REPRINTS: 


■; -.:- :  f:s  of 


SKETCHESo:TRAVE 


'Lu 


iV    LAX1J  AX1 J  SKA 


?    THE  CREGAN- CURSE, 


FTC.    FTC 


1  ■">>•    \V.\1.    I   I  K  XK^'    1   ',  1  ■  KM  Jl-l'i'T 


I 


The  dozen  letters  herein  reproduced  from  the  columns  of 
the  Eock  Island  Union  are  collected  together  in  this  form  to 
supply  a  number  of  friendly  requests  for  them  which  it  was 
not  convenient  to  otherwise  comply  with.  The  story  of 
'The  Cregaii  Curse"  and  the  verses  following  are  added  as 
seeming  to  have  a  flavor  in  consonance  with  certain  portions 
of  the  letters.  "The  Cregan  Curse"  is  wholly  fictitious  as  a 
tale,  and  even  as  a  Manx  picture  was  purposely  made  untrue 
in  identification  of  its  particular  scenery. 


UNION    PRINTING   OFFICE,    ROCK    ISLAND,    ILL. 


BY  LAND  AND  SEA. 


i. 

■-.    DAYLIGHT  TRIP  OVER  THE   ROCK  ISLAM)  RAILWAY  —  THE 
WESTERN  PROSPECTOR — THE  THKMOXT- loLANTHE. 

Chicago,  May  30,  1883. 
When  Rock  Island  scribes  voyage  to  Moline  or  travel  to 
Milan.  Illinois  City  or  Coal  Valley,  they  are  apt  to  tell  all 
about  it  in  print.  r>ut  when  they  step  across  the  state  to 
Chicago  it  seems  to  be  their  habit  to  refrain  from  relating 
their  perils  and  adventures  by  the  way.  as  well  as  those  en- 
countered after  reaching  the  city.  The  former  abstinence 
is  probably  because  they  mostly  make  the  trip  by  night  and 
see  nothing.  The  latter  maybe  the  result  of  an  uncon- 
scious feeling  of  rivalry  between  the  two  great  ports  of 
entrance  to  the  east  and  west  confines  of  the  state:  Chicago 
and  Rock  Island:  creating  a  generous  delicacy.  Both  cus- 
toms are  to  be  deprecated.  A  trip  from  Hock  Island  to 
Chicago  by  day  is  a  sedative  which  is  good  to  take  at  this 
season,  particularly  if  the  sun  shines,  as  it  did  on  Tues- 
day. Leaving  by  the  7:55  Chicago  &  Rock  Island  train,  one 
rolls  the  distance  by  the  time  the  afternoon  has  well  begun, 
almost  as  smoothly  as  a  ball  traverses  the  length  of  a  bil- 
liard table.  A  seat  in  a  chair  car  is  restful,  a  temporary  place 
in  the  dining  car  completely  obliterates  the  recollection  of  a 


ISY  LA XI)  AM)  SKA 


possibly  too  hasty  breakfast,  and  the  view  of  the  bright  given 
face  of  nature,  passing  so  swiftly,  rounds  out  the  sensation 
of  content.  Of  course,  among  the  throng  of  quiet  and  pleas- 
ant people  in  one's  car,  there  is  the  man  who  has  been  out 
West,  prospecting  But  he  is  like  the  steady,  interminable 
clack  of  the  rolling  gear  of  the  train.  He  is  part  of  the 
journey,  and  attaches  himself  to  an  aged  man,  hard  of 
healing,  to  whom  he  communicates,  in  a  voice  of  ear  pierc- 
ing clearness,  the  whole  of  his  experiences.  It  takes  him 
about  six  hours  to  tell  how  he  circumvented  people  and 
things  out  West  and  as  far  back  as  Council  bluffs,  and  he 
leaves  the  train  with  the  old  gentleman,  evidently  intending 
to  go  to  the  same  hotel  to  finish  his  yarn.  When  he  is  in 
the  car  he  has  an  exasperating  way  of  laughing,  without  hav- 
ing said  anything  funny.  It  is  his  way  of  taking  breath 
to  go  on  with,  and,  as  soon  as  one  recognizes  this,  one  lose> 
the  suspicion  that  he  is  indulging  his  amusement  at  the  crowd 
for  permitting  his  egotistical  rattle.  The  old  gentleman  says 
little,  but  that  little  induces  reverence.  It  is  in  the  form  of 
hints,  suggesting  that  he  is  one  of  the  multitude  to  whcin 
the  present  site  of  the  city  of  Chicago  was  once  offered  foi 
a  pair  of  ooots.  a  jack-knife  and  that  inconsiderable  portion 
of  tobacco  known  as  *  "chew." 

An  agriculturist  would  relish  the  day  tiip.  and  would  crit- 
ically note  the  myriads  of  little  pigs  frisking  about  their 
portly  mothers.  tLe  calves  and  infantile  colts  without  num- 
ber, and  the  pools  and  fields  sprinkled  thickly  with  gosling- 
anil  ducklings,  while  the  fair  promise  of  such,  stands  of 
corn  as  are  up  and  the  good  showing  of  small  grain,  particu- 
larly oats,  would  assure  him  that  a  crop  is  coming,  though  it 
is  backward  and  rather  too  partial  in  appearance  as  _\et. 

As  for  the  generous  delicacy  in  saying  nothing  about 
Chicago,   look  at   it  properly,  from  a  Rock   Island  point   of 


BY  LAX  I)  AX  J)  SEA. 


view,  and  it.  seems  sheer  neglect.  The  Hock  Island  man 
goes  straightway  to  his  own  hotel,  the  Tremont  House,  where 
Messrs.  Hilton  &  Cobb  give  him  peculiar  greeting  as  such, 
and  he  tinds  that,  with  all  their  constant  influx  of  visitors, 
they  have  still  the  room,  the  fare  and  the  comforts  which  the 
material  part  of  his  soul  loves.  And  Mr.  Milton,  himself  a 
Hock  Island  boy  of  yore,  in  speaking  of  home  ami  casually 
touching  upon  Mr.  Harper's  tine  system  of  tire  escape  and 
protection  at  the  Harper  House.  Rock  Island,  points  out  that 
the  Tremont  House,  too,  has  its  outside  ladders  to  the 
ground,  and  its  stand-pipes,  at  the  end  of  every  corridor: 
its  four  staircases,  with  red  lamps  burning  at  the  head  of 
each  to  mark  its  place;  its  wide-awake  watchmen  in  the  dif- 
ferent halls  at  night,  with  four  electric  gongs  in  every  hall, 
under  control  of  the  office,  to  sound  their  din  by  the  hour 
together  without  resetting,  and  its  system  of  other  devices 
to  guard  against  danger  from  fire,  which,  in  this  solid  and 
massive  structure,  is  reduced  to  the  minimum  of  possibility 
-and.  as  the  tire  station  is  within  half  a  block,  the  electric 
signal  from  the  office  to  the  station  would  bring  the  firemen 
to  the  hotel  in  thirty  seconds.  But  these  precautions  have 
to  be  taken,  to  keep  up  with  the  times,  danger  or  no  danger. 
Then  there  is  another  Rock  Island  attraction.  Mrs.  Ot  - 
tilie  Abel- Haas  is  playing,  with  the  Chicago  Church  Choir 
Co.,  in  Gilbert  it  Sullivan's  latest  comic  opera,  "Iolanthe." 
She  is  the  principal  of  three  fairies  ruled  by  a  Queen.  Her 
name  is  "Celia"  and  she  is  what  Brother  Baldwin  would  term 
"the  belle  of  the  ball/'  Clad  in  a  loose  robe  of  a  delicious 
shade  of  green,  and  made  up  as  a  dark-eyed  blonde  in  hair 
and  complexion,  the  airy  grace  of  her  movements  and  the 
perfect  ease  with  which  she  acts  her  supernal  role  hardly 
need  the  aid  of  the  pair  of  diaphanous  wings  which  spring 
from  between  her  shoulders  to  proclaim  her  a  true  daughtei 


10  BY  LAND  AM)  SEA. 


of  Fairyland.     From  the  opening  solo  of  the  piece,  in  which, 
speaking  for  the  trio,  she  sings: 

"We  are  dainty  little  fairies, 

Ever  singing,  ever  dancing; 
We  indulge  in  onr  vagaries 

In'a  fashion  most  entrancing — " 
she  is  a  favorite  with  the  audience,  and  the  charming  can- 
dor with  which  she  answers,  when  told  by  the  Fairy  Queen 
that  to  love  a  mortal  is  weakness:  "We  know  it's  weak- 
ness, but  the  weakness  is  so  strong!"  comes  at  the  close  of 
an  impersonation  which  it  is  pleasant  to  praise.  "Iolanthe" 
is  being  performed  at  McYicker's  Theatre.  In  amusing  in- 
congruities it  is  own  brother  to  the  other  Gilbert  A'  Sullivan 
pieces.  Its  first  act  is  scened  in  an  Arcadian  landscape,  with 
a  river  and  cascade  running  at  the  back  of  the  stage;  its  other 
act  being  set  in  the  yard  of  Westminster  Palace,  with  the 
Palace,  all  ali»ht  at  night,  spanning  the  whole  rear  of  the 
stage.  The  fairy  crowd,  or  the  Peris,  are  enchanting,  and 
the  gang  of  twenty  Peers  of  the  realm,  who  finally  fall  in 
love  with  the  Peris,  are  immense.  They  are  covered  with 
gorgeous  cloaks  of  velvet  and  each  one  wears  upon  his  head 
the  typical  coronet  telling  the  plebeian  beholder  that  he  is  a 
duke,  marquis,  count,  viscount,  or  baron,  as  the  case  may- 
be; and  the  horror  with  which  the  bunch  hear  the  promulga- 
tion of  the  doctrine  that  the  peerage  ought  to  be  thrown 
open  to  competitive  examination,  and  the  abominable  ab- 
surdity of  seeing  the  Lord  Chancellor,  in  a  full  bottomed 
wig.  and  two  of  the  noble  lords  in  coronets  dancing  a  solemn 
break-down  in  the  palace  yard,  are  but  a  couple  of  the  sub- 
limely ludicrous  things,  which,  interspersed  with  the  ele- 
gant comicalities  and  more  serious  effects  of  the  whole 
piece,  combine  to  call  forth  repeated  encores  from  the 
audience. 


BY  LAND  AND  SEA.  11 


II. 

FROM  CHICAGO  TO  THE  SEABOARD — SCENES  AND  INCI- 
DENTS ON  A  BALTIMORE  &  OHIO  TRAIN — NEW  YORK  AND 
ITS    ANGLOMANIA. 

Chicago,  June  4. 

The  Baltimore  &  Ohio  track  was  dry,  but  not  dusty, 
the  whole  distance  from  Chicago  and  the  sun  shone 
brightly  during  its  Hunted  hours,  making  the  chance  to  see 
the  beauties  of  "the  picturesque  line  of  America"a  good  one. 
The  first  few  miles,  except  for  peeps  at  the  water  of  Lake 
Michigan  on  the  left  hand  and  the  perusal  of  fence-board 
literature  on  the  right,  were  of  course,  as  quiet  as  they  were 
swiftly  traversed.  When  a  few  of  our  passengers  had  seen 
all  they  cared  of  the  lake  and  had  committed  to  memory 
that  they  must  eat  a  certain  man's  candy,  go  to  some  one's 
museum  and  stop  at  a  number  of  different  hotels  and  places 
where  masculine  garments  are  purchaseable  at  low  rates, 
— on  their  return  to  Chicago. — they  went  on  a  stroll  through 
the  train.  On  their  completion  of  the  round  of  cars,  notes 
were  gravely  compared.  There  was  a  pretty  heavy  passen- 
ger list,  composed  mostly  of  a  good  grade  of  folks,  not 
more  exciting  to  look  at  than  dignified  respectability  usually 
is.  But  there  were  three,  and  possibly  five,  newly  married 
couples,  and  a  tall,  slender  bride,  with  dark  eyes  and  a  pale 
face,  was  voted  (ayes  II,  nays  2),  to  be  the  prettiest.  The 
minority  vote  was  for  a  bride  with  round,  rosy  cheeks  and 
fuzzy  brown  hair.  In  deference  to  the  minority  it  was  al- 
lowed that  she  was  the  prettiest,  too. 

There  was  considerable  decorous  unction  in  making  up 
this  report.     Then  it  was  voted  unanimously  that  "the  in- 


12  BY  LA XI)  AND  SKA 

cident  in  the  smoking  car  was  a  disappointment,  almost 
amounting  to  a  sell."  It  had  happened  that,  as  the  commit- 
tee of  inspection  entered  the  smoking  car.  an  old  lady 
therein,  in  a  blue  veil,  had  asked  if  it  was  12  o'clock.  Her 
query  was  addressed  to  an  old  gentleman  in  a  skull-cap 
with  a  basket  on  his  knee.  A  reply  being  made  that  it  was 
just  10:30,  the  old  lady  sighed  deeply,  paused  a  moment, 
then  reached  in  the  basket  and  brought  forth  two  raw  eggs. 
She  handed  one  to  her  consnrt  and  both  went  to  work,  on 
the  approved  formula:  milking  an  aperture  at  the  apex. 
;i  corresponding  one  at  the  base,  and  extra  -tin"  the  fluid  1>\ 
suction.  The  committee  watched  the  placid  disposal  of 
seven  eggs,  four  by  the  old  lady  and  three  by  the  old  gen- 
tleman, and  would  have  waited  an  hour,  if  necessary,  to  see 
what  expression  of  face  would  result  from  one  or  the  other 
of  the  parties  striking  a  bad  egg  and  getting  a  mouthful  of 
it.  But,  by  the  time  the  chances  were  seven  to  one  in  favor 
of  success,  the  lid  of  the  basket  was  shut  down  and  the 
show  was  over.  It  was  afterward  surmised,  from  the  grand 
square  meal  the  old  couple  disposed  of  at  dinner  time,  at 
(rarrett.  that  the  eggs  were  taken  as  a  kind  of  animal  oyster. 
to  create  appetite.  Two  of  the  newly  married  couples  left 
the  train  at  way  stations,  one  of  them  being  very  enthusias- 
tically received  by  a  lot  of  country  friends.  The  three 
others  subsequently  disappeared  in  the  curtained  recesses 
at  one  end  of  a  sleeper,  in  a  berth  adjacent  to  which  were 
stowed  away  three  nice,  but  travel-weary  little  children. 
who  affectionately  kicked  each  other  and  squealed  for  more 
than  half  the  night. 

The  difference  since  the  Baltimore  &  Ohio  came  to  own 
and  operate  its  own  sleepers  is  very  perceptible.  The  sleep- 
ing cars  are  magnificently  built  and  fitted,  and  the  familiar 
white-capped  officials  who  are  on    duty  upon  them  are  so 


BY  LAXf)  AX1>  SAM.  1:! 

civil  and  assiduous  iti  their  attention-;  that  they  add  a  charm 
to  the  infinite  variety  for  which  this  route  is  famed,  particu- 
larly from  the  Ohio  to  the  Potomac.  Adjectives  have  been 
exhausted  in  eulogy  of  the  gems  of  nature  displayed  by  the 
long,  graceful  sweeps  and  constant  succession  of  curves  in 
which  this  road  pencils  out  its  'dine  of  beauty"  through  the 
wild  grandeur  of  the  Alleghanies  and  looking  deep  down  in- 
to their  lovely  valleys.  To  point  the  situation  by  the  favor- 
ite method  of  figures,  read  the  sign-hoard  at  one  cool  and 
breezy  station:  "Deer  Park,  altitude  2,70(1  feet."  The  sheer 
declivities  into  some  of  the  valleys  defy  figurative  descrip- 
tion, but  the  awe  inspired  by  the  first  glance  at  them  vanishes 
quickly  as  the  eye  admiringly  encounters  the  varied  green- 
ery showered  down  upon  their  slopes  and  shelves,  with 
sharp  and  rugged  features  peeping  out  here  and  there,  and 
the  relief  is  completed  by  the  streams  which  thread  their 
hurried  way,  through  the  valleys'  base,  plashing  and  eddy- 
ing, leaping  over  a  thousand  rocks  within  the  scope  of  a 
glance,  and  each  one  doubtless  singing  its  song  to  those  near 
enough  to  hear:  "For  men  may  come  and  men  may  go,  but 
I  flow  on  forever."  But  the  best  of  views  have  to  be  parted 
with  in  transit,  and  one  of  the  last  things  one  notes  as  the 
beautiful  panorama  ends  is  an  amused  recognition  that  John 
Brown's  Fort  at  Harper's  Ferry  maintains  its  desirability  as 
a  place  to  cover  with  circus  posters,  which  some  one  seems 
to  tear  down  with  equal  desirability,  the  Fort  thus  serving  to 
inflame  and  aggravate  the  public  mind  with  fragmentary  pic- 
tures of  a  lion's  head  with  its  fangs  well  demonstrated,  go- 
ing to  bite  something  which  has  been  removed:  the  hind 
legs  of  a  tiger,  in  hot  haste  after  somebody  unseen,  and  oth- 
er suggestive  but  unsatisfying  glimpses  of  tragic  import 
completing  the  impression  that  there  is  some  live  show  trav- 
eling somewhere,  and  that  John  Brown  is  indeed  dead. 


H  BY  LAXD  AM)  SKA. 


New  York  is — is— is  more  so.  if  anything,  than  it  used  to 
be,  and  the  roar  of  the  streets  is  at  one  moment  like  the 
hoarse  voice  of  the  cataract  of  Niagara,  and  at  another  like 
the  racket  of  a  railway  train.  As  the  multitude  rapidly  laces 
and  interlaces  its  particles  in  a  never-woven  fabric  along  its 
streets,  a  whimsical  thought  occurs  to  the  listless  observer, 
peering  from  some  window,  of  the  "millions  in  it"  if  these 
thousands  could  only,  by  some  electric  method  of  under- 
standing, arrange  for  a  part  of  their  number  to  carry 
the  messages  of  the  whole.  But  the  secretiveness  of 
humanity,  in  the  matter  of  its  personal  business,  will  proba- 
bly prevent  this  idea  from  ever  being  patented. 

There  is.  in  certain  sections  of  the  city,  a  large  "lay-out"  on 
the  part  of  merchants  to  stamp  everything  as  "English."  and 
it  is  possible  that  if  they  had  a  Rock  Island  or  Moline  plow 
to  sell  it  would  be  vaguely  announced  to  be  "English  " 
But  a  partial  cause  for  this  is  not  far  to  seek.  The 
main  rush  of  ocean  travel  is  for  the  island  containing  Eng- 
land, Scotland  and  Wales,  and  he  who  hasn't  been  is  mostly 
"thinking  of  going  sometime."  Of  fifty  ocean  steamers 
sailing  from  here  this  month  of  June,  twenty-one  go  to  Liv- 
pool  and  five  each  to  London  and  Glasgow;  total  thirty- 
one;  the  remaining  nineteen  being  divided  up  between  Bre- 
men, Hamburg.  Antwerp.  Havre,  Amsterdam  and  Rotterdam. 

Mr.  John  Holland,  the  directory  man,  reached  here  from 
Liverpool  on  Saturday  and  was  met  by  our  friend,  Ctipt  A. 
E.  Wells.  Mr.  Holland  has  been  in  England  ten  months. 
He  weighed  155  pounds  when  he  left  here,  and  comes  back 
weighing  ](.»4.  ('apt.  Wells  asks  after  everybody  in  Rock 
Island.  When  called  upon,  at  the  office  of  the  New  York 
Times,  he  and  his  brother  i  who  is  his  chief)  take  delight  in 
showing  the  Rock  Island  visitors  the  most  wonderfully  per- 
fect composing  department  possible  to  imagine. 


BY  LA XI)  AXD  SEA.  15 


III. 

a  voyage  from  new  york  to  queenstown— the  inma.n 
steamship  •'city  of  berlin." 

On  Board  the  City  of  Berlin,     / 
June  7  to  15.  \ 

Most  of  the  passengers  on  this  trip  of  the  Innian  steamer 
City  of  Berlin  came  on  Board  on  Wednesday  evening  (June 
''.I.  The  dawn  of  Thursday  brought  the  remainder,  and,  at 
i>:2tl  a.  M.  the  courteous  Capt.  Leitch  (Commodore  of  the 
Inman  tieet)  and  one  of  his  officers  took  their  places  on  the 
steamer's  "bridge"  beside  the  pilot,  the  signal  was  given  to 
cast  loose  from  the  pier  aud  the  tow-boat  E.  M.  Millard 
helped  the  big  vessel  to  back  out  of  her  berth.  Out  she 
went,  stern  first,  with  a  graceful  sweep  which  brought  her 
head-on  to  her  path  down  the  North  river,  a  crowd  of 
friends  at  the  end  of  the  pier  having  never  ceased  to  frantic- 
ally wave  handkerchiefs  and  tiny  flags  during  the  manoeuvre 
of  departure.  A  small  boat  took  off  the  pilot  at  the  light- 
ship— and  that  was  the  last  taste  of  shore.  Soon,  the  tell- 
tale faces  of  the  two  telegraph  indicators  on  the  bridge 
showed  that  the  word  had  sped,  like  a  flash,  to  the  wheel- 
house  and  engine  room,  to  steer  the  vessel  steady  on  her 
course,  full  speed,  ahead. 

Shortly  after  leaving  land,  the  hot  haze,  telling  of  the  in- 
tense heat  left  behind  in  New  York,  cooled  into  fog,  which 
lifted  but  once  during  the  afternoon,  only  to  fall  again,  and 
scarce  giving  a  moment's  interval,  later,  in  which  to  catch 


Ill 


II  Y  LAND  AM)  SKA 


B\    LAND  AXD  SKA.  17 

sight  of  the  new  moon,  sinking  in  the  far  West.  TLe  mourn- 
ful sound  of  the  ship's  steam-gong,  or  fog-horn,  was  heard, 
once  every  minute,  Tittering  its  deep-toned  warning  of  the 
coming  of  the  great  ocean  steamship.  There  was  a  breeze 
on  the  starboard  bow  and  the  foresail,  fore-topsail  and  try- 
sail were  set,  steadying  the  motion  of  the  vessel  into  a  long 
swing  and  gentle  roll,  amid  which  could  be  perceived  the 
smooth,  pulsating  thud  of  her  powerful  engines,  beating- 
like  a  life  current  of  fifty-five  throbs  per  minute.  Of  course, 
some  passengers  were  sick  by  this  time,  their  smiles  having 
paled  in  color  and  grown  few  in  number  until  the  climax  of 
their  nausea.  (Those  who  have  seen  Mr.  Bishop  play  the 
part  of  the  steamship  passenger  in  "Strictly  Business,"  at 
Harper's  Theatre,  will  particularly  appreciate  their  con- 
dition). But  a  fair  proportion  of  the  passengers  were 
not  sick  at  all.  Of  these,  some  walked,  some  talked,  some 
began  to  read  numbers  of  the  "Seaside  Library,"  and  oth- 
ers, as  the  evening  closed  in,  leaned  their  elbows  on  the 
bulwarks,  looking  at  the  white  night-caps  which  the  fresh- 
ening breeze  was  putting  on  the  heads  of  the  waves,  noting 
the  deep,  widening  furrow  ploughed  by  the  ship  through 
the  dark  blue  sea,  broad  streaks  of  froth  speeding  from  the 
share  of  the  giant  plow  to  the  furrow's  ridge,  whence  the 
wind  snatched  the  white  crest  and  swept  it  away  in  a  shower 
of  spray.  Or,  looking  astern,  they  saw  how  the  propelling 
screw  churned  up  the  water  with  furious  strength,  the 
ship's  wake  being  one  indescribably  turbulent  commotion 
of  brilliant  blue,  boiling  with  pure  and  snowlike  foam  as 
far  as  the  eye  could  see.  yet  looking  unutterably  cold. 
Hovering  over  the  wake  were  some  of  Mother  Carey's  chick- 
ens, brown  birds  with  white  girdles:  each  in  appearance, 
size  and  manner  of  night,  suggesting  a  maritime  whip-poor- 
will.     These  birds  followed  the  ship  for  three  days  and  then 


IS 


II  V  LA  XI)  A  XI)  SEA. 


gradually  gave  way  to  the  large  Atlantic  seagull,  whose  white 
body  ami  gray-brown  wings  might  be  seen  at  times  dnring 
most  of  the  rest  of  tbe  passage. 

Friday  was  foggy  till  noon,  and  again  at  night.  Saturday 
was  fog  or  haze  all  day. the  heavy  humidity  of  the  atmos- 
phere at  night  streaming  in  water  from  the  awning  over  tin- 
spar  and  promenade  decks.  The  wind  was  ahead  and  made 
convalescing  sick  folks  keep  cpriet.  but  the  little  children  on 
board,  and  those  of  larger  growth  who  were  well,  kept  busy 
with  swinging,  skipping  rope,  leap-frog,  shovel-board,  rope 
'limits,  checkers,  chess  and  other  amusements:  or  men  went 
into  the  barber-shop  for  an  artistic  shave,  or  perhaps  sought 
the  ever-cheerful  society  of  Mr.  J.  T.  Kavauagh.  the  Pur- 
ser. Mr.  Kavanagh  has  tilled  the  position  of  Purser  on 
this  route  of  ocean  travel  for  twenty-eight  years,  has  crossed 
the  Atlantic  ocean  over  500  times  and  is  the  senior  veteran  of 
all  the  pursers  on  this  ocean,  though  still  a  youthful  looking 
man.  He  is  an  enthusiast  upon  the  subject  of  the  Inman 
line  and  its  steerage  passage,  and  is  said  to  have  (stowed 
away  somewhere)  a  scrap-book  full  of  newspaper  clippings. 
of  testimonial,  reporterial  and  editorial  nature,  thankfully 
praising  his  conduct  of  the  Inman  steerage,  or  in  grave  ap- 
proval of  him  generally.  As  the  steerage  is  just  forward  of 
his  office,  it  is  handy  to  get  him  to  show  one  through.  The 
steerage  is  a  vast  cabin,  occupying  the  forepart  of  the  ship. 
All  along  its  sides  are  row-  of  sleeping  apartments,  conduct- 
ed so  as  to  secure  decency  and  privacy.  The  sea-breeze 
blows,  fresh  and  pure,  through  the  numerous  open  ports, 
and  the  absolute  cleanness  and  wholesomeness  of  the  place 
are  most  inviting.  The  broad,  long  centre  of  the  steerage  is 
where  its  passengers  take  their  meals,  at  the  tables  there. 
What  they  eat  and  what  they  drink  are  precisely  the  same 
things  eaten  and  drunk  in  the  first  cabin,  and  their  fare  only 


BY  LAND  A XI)  SEA.  19 

differs  from  that  of  the  first  cabin  in  there  being  fewer  nu ru- 
bers on  the  programme.  For  instance,  the  steerage  passen- 
gers are  given  for  breakfast  (at  8  a.  m.)  tea  and  eoffee,  with 
milk  and  sugar  and  oatmeal  porridge,  followed  (at  10  a.  ji.) 
by  beef-tea  and  French  rusks.  For  dinner  (at  1  p.  M.), 
they  are  furnished  with  pea  soup,  or  fresh  vegetable  soup, 
)■  iast  and  boiled  beef  and  potatoes,  and  rice  or  other  pud- 
ding (with  rich  plum  pudding  on  Sunday).  Their  supper 
[■">  p.  JI.)  is  of  gruel,  tea  with  sugar  and  milk,  and  fresh 
white  rolls  and  butter.  Sometimes  as  many  as  1,450  steer- 
age passengers  sit  down  to  each  of  these  meals,  and  that 
number  is  every  hit  as  big  as  it  sounds,  when  packed  away 
on  hoar  1  in  the  steerage  of  this  ship,  yet  is  there  comfort  for 
all.  and  one  cannot  wonder  that  the  kindly,  firm  super- 
vision of  the  veteran  "business  man."  Air.  Kavanagh,  wins 
him  repeated  encomiums  on  board  the  City  of  Berlin,  as  also 
may  be  heard  in  the  various  ships  of  the  fleet,  the  system 
modeled  by  him  being  carried  on  throughout  it.  The  Inman 
line  was  the  first  to  furnish,  cook  and  serve  food  to  steerage 
passengers,  just  as  it  was  the  first  to  carry  steerage  passen- 
gers at  all  across  the  Atlantic,  the  first  to  introduce  the 
screw  propeller  ami  the  first  to  call  at  Queenstown  to  re- 
ceive and  deliver  mails  and  passengers  and  always  carries 
more  passengers  of  all  classes  than  any  other  line. 

Fog  still — hut  there  is  more  of  the  ship  to  see  and  talk 
about.  On  inquiry,  one  finds  that  the  City  of  Berlin,  now 
just  eight  years  old.  is  525  feet  long  and  45  feet  in  beam 
measurement;  his  orlop,  lower,  main,  spar  and  promenade 
decks,  five  decks  in  all.  has  three  masts,  fore,  main  and  miz- 
zen.  and  may  be  known  by  her  square  canvas  to  be  full  ship 
rigged.  Her  company  includes  175  officers  ami  men  of  all 
kinds,  and  she  carries  ten  commodious  boats.  Her  engines 
are  compound:  high  pressure  12  diameter,  low  bid,  length  of 


2ii 


BY  LAND  AM)  SEA 


stroke  5j  feet,  (fifty-live  strokes  per  minute  being  (heir  full 
speed),  with  steam  power  supplied  by  twelve  boilers,  carry- 
ing 7-")  pounds  pressure,  and  consuming  only  Kid  tons  of 
coal  per  day. 

The  main  saloon,  in  which  the  first-class  passengers  take 
their  meals,  occupies  the  whole  width  of  the  ship  on  the  main 
deck  and  is  -ioxoo  feet  in  area.  Its  four  long  rows  of  tables 
seat  If  JO  persons  at  once,  are  adorned  with  hot-house  plauts 
in  full  bloom  in  fancy  pots  and  are  furnished  with  an  equip- 
ment at  meal -times  both  solid  and  elegant,  above  a  score  of 
stewards  waiting  upon  a  table  which  has  no  superior  in  that 
of  a  first-class  hotel  ashore,  while  the  fittings  and  finish  of 
the  whole  saloon  are  perfectly  enchanting.  By  day.  the  many 
crimsoned-curtained  ports  light  this  grand  cabin,  but  at 
night  its  splendor  is  intensified  by  the  Siemens  electric 
light. — which  system  also  illumines  the  passages  on  the 
main  and  lower  decks  and  the  engine  room,  the  remaining 
interior  of  the  ship  being  lighted  by  ingenious  lamps,  fed  by 
oil  of  similar  merit. 

As  for  one's  state  room,  or  private  cabin,  it  is  UxN  feet  in 
area,  11  feet  high,  fitted  on  one  side  with  two  berths,  each  25 
inches  wide  and  containing  spring  beds,  and  on  the  other 
side  with  a  luxurious  lounge  of  padded  crimson  velvet. 
Above  this  lounge  is  a  port  (a  circular  window,  ten  inches  in 
diameter  .  through  which  one  can  gaze  upon  the  ocean,  or 
which  one  can  open  for  air.  (though  the  ventilation  is  am- 
ple without  that  i.  or  can  screen  by  its  tiny  crimson  cur- 
tain-. In  other  matters,  the  floor  is  carpeted,  the  gilt-edged 
wash-stand  is  supplied  with  water  by  the  touching  of  a  knob. 
there  are  all  the  usual  accessories  for  a  complete  toilet  (with 
a  bath  room  next  door)  and  the  pressure  of  an  ivory  button 
brings,  literally  by  electricity,  the  steward,  or  stewardess  on 
dutv  in  one's  section. 


BY  LAND  AND  SKA.  21 

There  was  fog  all  Sunday,  with  slight  intermission .  In 
the  morning,  the  various  crews  of  the  ship's  boats  were  lined 
up  in  squads  along  the  spar  deck  and  were  formally  inspect- 
ed las  is  done  every  Sunday  morning,  as  well  as  just  before 
sailing,)  and  Capt  Leitch  then  read  prayers  in  the  grand  sa- 
loon. The  day  was  cool,  and,  after  the  southernmost  point 
of  the  Bank  of  Newfoundland  had  been  passed  in  the  after- 
noon, the  cold  grew  severe  and  but  few  faced  it  and 
the  searching  damp  of  the  fog,  even  if  clad  in  the  warmest 
wrappings.  The  fog  lifted  at  noon  on  Monday.  The  after- 
noon was  fair,  but  rain  fell  at  night.  Head  winds  con- 
tinued. Tuesday  was  wet  and  foggy.  The  weather 
cleared  up  on  "Wednesday,  but  the  head  winds  continued 
until  Thursday  afternoon,  when  all  breeze  departed  and 
soon  the  ocean  had  not  a  wave  upon  it,  but  became  one  uni- 
versal sheet  of  undulating  smoothness.  And  so  it  was  when 
the  sun  went  down  in  gold  and  crimson  glory,  throw- 
ing a  brilliant  gleam  of  light  straight  from  the  West 
nlong  the  scarcely  dimpled  water  to  where  the  eyes  of  so 
many  were  homeward  looking  back  in  silent  contemplation. 

Friday  (which  is  to-day)  has  been  tine,  with  a  fresh 
breeze  on  the  port  bow.  The  loneliness  of  the  wide  waste 
of  water  has  been  relieved  by  the  sighting  of  several  sails. 

-a  feature  exceptionally  scarce  hitherto  during  this  trip. 
In  the  afternoon,  land  was  sighted  and  Fastnet  was  passed, 
since  when  laud  has  been  continually  to  be  seen  on  the  port 
beam:  the  coast  of  Ireland.  And  now,  late  on  in  the  long 
hours,  Queenstown  is  neared.  the  tender  to  take  off  mails 
and  passengers  is  at  hand  and  all  the  leisure  time  of  the 
past  week  is  suddenly  exchanged  for  half  an  hour  of  hurry, 
in  which  seems  hardly  time  enough  to  write  "All's  well!"  and 
add  one's  signature. 

P.  S. — At  the  last  moment,  the  following  document,  sign- 


•1-1  RY  LAND  A  XI)  SKA. 

ed  by  the  whole  of  the  steerage  passengers,  is  handed  to  Mr. 
Kiivanagh: 

"To  lh>   huiKtn  Steiimtihip  Company: 

"Inmax  Steamship  City  of  Berlin,  ' 
Off  Qteenstown,  June  15,  IH83.  i 
"We,  the  passengers  in  the  steerage  desire  to  express  to  you 
our  satisfaction  with  the  cleanliness  and  good  order  which 
have  prevailed  throughout  the  passage,  also  the  attention 
and  civility  of  the  stewards  and  the  plentiful  supply  of  good 
provisions. " 


BY  LAND  AND  SEA. 


IV. 

THE     ENGLISH     SHORES     AND     THE     BATHING     MACHINES — 
THE    INNS.    THE    STREET    SIGHTS    AND    THE    SHOPS. 

Liverpool,  June  24. 
The  steamer  City  of  Berlin  made  a  very  pleasant  trip 
from  Qneenstown  to  Liverpool,  passed  Holyhead  with  the 
red  ensign  and  all  her  ribbons  streaming  gaily,  with  a  mag- 
nificent view  of  the  Welsh  coast  all  the  way  after  entering 
the  channel.  The  passengers  were  enthusiastic  over  the 
beauty  of  the  panorama,  until  entering  the  mouth  of  the 
river  Mersey,  where,  on  the  shore  of  New  Brighton,  there 
was  to  be  seen  an  array  of  tiny  little  houses,  each  on  four 
wheels.  "Whatever  are  those?"  demanded  the  uninitiated. 
"Those,"  responded  a  quiz.  ''Those  are  the  sentry  boxes  of 
the  Horse  Marines,  the  celebrated  cavalry  corps  which  al- 
ways goes  on  duty  under  cover  and  on  wheels."  A  general 
laugh  greeted  this  explanation.  The  little  buildings  were 
then  recognized  as  bathing  machines  and  some  one  describ- 
ed how  they  are  operated.  You  enter  the  machine,  at  the 
tail  end.  by  a  flight  of  steps,  and  begin  to  undress.  A  horse 
is  hooked  to  the  front  end.  The  individual  bestriding  the 
animal  waits  till  he  thinks  you  are  pretty  well  tangled  up 
in  the  operation  of  pulling  off  your  shirt  over  your  head, 
and  then  starts  up  his  horse  with  a  jerk.  The  machine  has 
no  springs  and  you  bang  about  all  over  its  interior  until  the 
splash  of  the  horse's  progress  down  into  the  water  ceases. 
Then  you  pick  up  your  clothes  from  tbe  floor,  hang  them 


24  BY  LAND  A XI)  SKA. 

on  pegs,  go  out  at  the  front  door,  take  a  cold-blooded  im- 
mersion and  get  back  into  the  machine.  The  equestrian 
drags  it  up  out  of  the  water,  and  two  or  three  persons  who 
want  to  bathe  sit  on  the  front  steps  while-  you  dress,  and 
abuse  you  to  each  other  for  being  so  slow.  Finally,  with 
your  feet  feeling  sandy  in  your  socks,  you  come  out  and 
they  take  their  turn  at  the  fun. 

The  steamer  stopped  opposite  her  dock  on  the  Liverpool 
side,  not  far  from  the  month  of  the  river,  and  two  steam 
tenders  came  alongside.  One  took  off  the  baggage  and  the 
other  the  passengers,  and  away  they  went  up  the  harbor  to 
the  Prince's  pier,  a  shower  of  rain  falling  meanwhile.  On 
landing  there  was  the  usual  unsystematic,  tedious  business 
of  the  customhouse  inspection  to  undergo:  kindly  enough 
done,  but  all  of  the  rough  and  ready  order,  or  disorder:  and 
then  one  was  at  liberty  to  go. 

Maybe  one  went  to  the  Adelphi  Hotel  and  reveled  in  its 
delights  Maybe  one  went  to  the  newly  furnished  Washing- 
ton and  felt  more  at  home  in  its  appearance  and  ways,  or  may- 
lie  one  went  to  one  of  the  old  hostelries.  where  there  is  fur- 
niture of  the  last  century,  where  the  bedstead  is  a  spacious 
four-poster  with  curtains,  and  the  bed  consists  of  a  couple 
of  thick  mattresses,  with  a  tremendous  feather  bed  on  top. 
tightly  stuffed  with  feathers  and  rising  up  to  it-  centre  like 
a  dome.  It  is  interesting  to  storm  one  of  these  citadels,  and 
to  feel  one's-self  simultaneously  dropping  to  sleep  and  slip- 
ping down  the  side  of  the  dome,  until,  at  last,  one's  weight 
tells,  the  feathers  begin  to  sink  in  the  middle  and  a  seuse  of 
security  absorbs  all  other  senses  in  the  first  sleep  ashore 
after  a  sea  voyage. 

Liverpool  is  very  unlike  New  York.  In  certain  mercan- 
tile circles  of  New  York  everything,  to  command  attention, 
must  be  English.      In  similar    circles  of    Liverpool,   every- 


BY  LAND  AND  SEA.  25 

thing  is  American,  if  it  expects  to  be  sold.  That  is  a  com- 
parison, showing  how  similar  the  dissimilarity  of  the  two 
places  is.  Other  comparisons  would  involve  a  statement  of 
relative  conditions,  would  be  trivial  in  result  and  hair-split- 
ting to  make.  The  city  is  beautifully  clean  in  its  more  pre- 
tentious parts,  and  an  idler  rinds  that  Le  hardly  seems  to  get 
anywhere  for  gazing  into  the  shop  windows,  most  of  them 
fronted  with  vast  sheets  of  plate  glass.  What  millinery  and 
feminine  gear,  displayed  on  wax  figures,  life  size!  What 
hat  shops,  tailors'  shops,  furniture  shops!  What  shops  full 
of  glittering  cutlery,  of  dazzling  jewelry,  of  'cute  little  things 
one  would  like  to  buy!  What  windows  full  of  books!  All 
the  authors  you  want,  full  editions  of  each,  hnndsomely 
bound  in  everything,  all  the  way  from  half  calf  up,  to  be  had 
for  what  seems  so  little  money!  And  what  shop  windows 
full  of  fruit!  Oh.  bother  the  old  statues  and  the  public 
buildings  and  the  miles  of  shipping!  Let's  look  at  these 
immense  grapes  and  gigantic  strawberries  and  cherries,  all 
hot-house  grown.  The  supply  seems  inexhaustible.  Anil 
those  lovely  West  India  pine -apples  and  ripe  figs!  At  last 
one  gets  where  one  was  going,  and  strolls  back  in  like  manner 
as  he  went,  the  only  interruption  being  from  the  swarms  of 
children  trying  to  sell  him  boxes  of  matches,  or  from  news- 
venders  whose  sharp  eyes  detect  whence  he  hails  and  who 
try  to  tempt  him  with  the  latest  New  York  papers.  Or  there 
is  the  seedy-looking,  red-nosed  man,  who  begs  the  price  of 
a  glass  of  beer  from  one  sort  of  way-farer,  or  a  copper  to- 
ward a  cup  of  coffee  from  another.  But  none  of  these  are 
more  than  civilly  importunate.  Out-door  "minstrelsy"  is 
abundant  particularly  at  night-fall.  There  is  an  old  time 
barrel-organ  playing  airs  by  Verdi  at  one  end  of  a  street,  a 
modern  piano-organ  giving  far  more  pleasing  strains  at  the 
other,  a  man  with  a  sort  of  piccolo  whistle  in  full  blast  half 


BY  LAXD  AX  I)  SKA. 


way  between,  and  another,  at  the  intersection  of  a  blind-al- 
ley, suggestive  in  name  of  his  own  sightless  orbs,  singing 
something  unrecognizable  to  the  tunc  he  is  squeezing  out  of 
an  accordion,  inaudible,  amid  the  general  din.  while  each 
musician  has  an  attendant  stretching  out  a  well-worn  cap 
for  the  pence  which  the  hurrying  populace  seems  not  to 
care  to  bestow. 

Such,  to  the  superficial  eye  of  one  who  has  no  curiosity 
to  see  the  "lions"  of  the  place,  who  is  bent  upon  not  weary- 
ing himself  with  beginning  a  scrutiny  of  the  evidences  of 
the  grandeur  of  the  great  city-port,  who  is  easily  pleased 
with  such  surface  attractions  as  readily  arrest  the  attention 
of  a  sojourner  to  the  momentary  exclusion  of  the  stirring 
world  around — such  is  one  little  glimpse  of  Liverpool.  Hut. 
while  these  last  words  are  being  written,  the  evening  bells 
in  the  church  towers  ring  out  a  remonstrance  against  forget- 
ting them,  an  entreaty  to  pause  a  moment  and  listen  to 
what  they  have  to  say:  peal  upon  peal,  rippling  and  swelling 
in  a  flood  of  harmony  that  drowns  all  other  sounds.  There 
is  not  a  happy  thought  they  do  not  seem  to  crack  their 
throats  to  utter  before  the  mind  can  frame  it.  nor  a  sad  one 
that  can  intrude  upon  their  cheery  melody. 


BY  LAND  AND  SEA.  27 


THE    (ITV    OF   MANCHESTER  AND    ITS  GENERAL   FEATURES. 

—  A  "'PLACE  OF  MEN"  OLDEK  THAN  THE  CHRISTIAN  ERA. 

Manchester,  July  5. 
Manchester  is  not  a  ''show"  place.  Foreign  visitors  do  not 
rush  to  it  to  gaze  at  ancient  castles,  with  dungeons  and 
places  of  torture  beneath,  or  to  view  magnificent  scenery,  or 
yet  inhale  invigorating  breezes.  They  come  to  it,  almost  in- 
variably, from  motives  in  some  way  connected  with  busi- 
ness. The  same  is  true  of  a  large  majority  of  its  business 
men.  who  live  out  of  town  and  merely  spend  their  hours  of 
toil  iu  the  city.  It  is  situated  a  little  north  of  east  of  Liver- 
pool, from  which  it  is  reached  in  forty-five  minutes  by  train. 
The  editor  of  a  publication  called  ''Manchester  Illustrated," 
in  remarking  that  "Manchester  is  no  modern  mushroom 
city"  points  out  that  "tradition  says  that,  sixty  years  before 
(.'hrist,  a  fort  was  erected  by  the  natives,  and  was  called  by 
them  Maucenion,  a  place  of  tents.  Seventy-nine  years  after 
Christ  this  fort  was  conquered  by  the  Romans  and  was  call- 
ed Mancynium,  a  place  of  men. "  He  goes  on  to  say  that  thus 
"the  old  town  can  look  back  on  a  history  of  eighteen  centu- 
ries of  busy  doings  on  the  banks  of  the  Irwell,  once  a  pleas- 
ant fishing  stream,  but  now  the  muddiest,  dirtiest,  most 
hard-worked  stream  of  the  smokiest,  dirtiest,  most  hard- 
worked  city  that  flourishes  in  the  reign  of  Victoria  the 
(Treat.  He  who  would  know  what  Manchester  is,  and  what 
Manchester  men  are,  must  live  and  toil  in  their  midst.     No 


•28 


BY  LA XI)  A XI)  SKA. 


pen  or  pencil  can  portray  their  industry,  tact  and  persever- 
ance. The  noblest  monument  of  all  is  the  city  itself, 
its  factories,  warehouses,  shops  ami  streets." 

These  candid  avowals  and  these  claims  are  supported  in 
the  publication  by  a  most  important  array  of  facts  ami  fig- 
ures, which  is  perhaps  enough  to  say  in  comment  upon  their 
particular  generalization.  "What  Manchester  is  in  one  or 
two  other  respects  by  which  Americans  are  accustomed  to 
judge  of  communities,  can  be  sufficiently  well  deduced  from 
tabular  information,  regarded  with  a  special  view.  The  city 
limits  of  Manchester  contain  a  population  of  not  far  from 
700,000.  A  movement  has  been  on  foot,  for  some  time,  to 
extend  those  Hunts,  the  continuity  of  the  dense  place  hav- 
ing long  ago  spread  far  beyond  them,  like  a  vast  spider's 
wel).  and  swallowed  up.  in  all  but  municipal  fact,  numbers 
of  what  were  once  surburban  town  and  villages,  each  then 
encircled  by  its  own  suburbanism;  so  that,  to-day.  the  pop- 
ulation crowded  within  a  radius  of  rive  miles  of  the  Man- 
chester Royal  Exchange  is  nearly  a  million,  making  the 
place  the  largest  in  the  nation,  after  London.  The  mass  of 
the  population  consists  of  working  people,  more  or  Un- 
skilled, and  the  labyrinths  of  streets  of  dwellings  built 
especially  for  their  needs  and  means  are  beyond  the  com- 
prehension of  a  stranger  used  to  more  evenly  varied  social 
clusterings.  Ami.  to  quote  again,  "the  vast  mass  of  people, 
engaged  inactive  employment  drawing  more  or  less  of  the 
rougher  elements,  requires  an  energetic  and  efficient  organ- 
ization to  control  it.  and  the  police  force  numbers  slT, 
Manchester  has  rive  theatres  on  its  list:  also  one  permanent 
circus  building  and  six  public  halls,  the  total  capacity  of  it^ 
places  of  amusement  being  24. KHi  seats.  On  the  other  hand 
there  are  441  places  of  worship:  Episcopal  111.  Methodist 
87.   Independent  39,    Primitive   Methodist  and  Catholic    3~> 


BY  LASD  AXD  SEA.  29 

each,  United  Methodist  31,  Presbyterian  16,  Baptist  17,  and 
other  chapels  and  mission  rooms  70.  Of  all  these,  the 
Cathedral,  which  is  now  being  completely  restored,  is  the 
oldest,  having  been  built  -111  years  ago.  (Close  by  it,  and 
recently  entirely  rebuilt  on  a  much  larger  scale,  is  the  Gram- 
mar School,  founded  by  Hugh  Oldham,  Bishop  of  Exter, 
373  years  since  )  The  restorations,  and  the  rebuilding  of 
old  institutions  whose  vital  usefulness  has  proved  more  en- 
during than  their  masonry,  emphasize  the  fact  that  the  man- 
tle of  material  age  has  almost  slipped  from  the  shoulders  of 
Manchester,  for  the  match  of  improvement  has  swept  away 
everything  of  lesser  contemporaneous  standing,  with  a  rul- 
ing exception  here  and  there,  and  the  stranger's  search  for 
antiquated  appearances  is  chiefly  rewarded  by  the  sight  of 
more  or  less  solitary  examples  of  residence  buildings  not 
more  than  a  century  or  two  old  and  resembling  faded  grand- 
eur elbowed  and  jostled  by  modern  utility.  But  they  are 
not  truly  solitary,  because  of  this  elbowing  and  jostling,  and, 
in  many  instances,  are  so  tightly  hemmed  in  by  the  multi- 
plied successors  of  their  contemporaries  as  readily  to  pass 
unnoticed  in  the  soot-stained  crowd  of  inferior  picturesque- 
ness.  One  of  the  noteworthy  exceptions  in  the  way  of  con- 
ferred insignificance  is  that  of  the  Seven  Stars  Tavern,  a  hos- 
telry within  a  few  minutes'  walk  of  the  Exchange.  This 
tavern  is  the  oldest  place  of  entertainment  of  its  kind  in  the 
united  kingdom,  having  been  licensed  to  refresh  "man  and 
beast"  for  more  than  rive  centuries.  There  is  nothing 
especially  modern  in  its  immediate  surroundings  and  it 
looks  good  for  centuries  more.  To  return,  for  a  moment,  to 
the  showing  of  places  of  worship:  A  "blue  book"  just  pub- 
lished, speaking  of  places  registered  for  religious  solemni- 
zation of  marriage  in  England  and  Wales,  gives  the  propor- 
tion of  14,575  establishment  (Episcopal)  churches  to  21,343 


30  BY  LAXD  AND  SEA. 


pliices  nf  worship  of  other  kinds,  demonstrating  the  "church" 
to  be  in  a  solid  minority  of  6,7G8.  The  figures  given  for 
Manchester  may  afford  some  idea  of  the  way  in  which  the 
divided  majority  is  subdivided. 

To  speak  of  public  buildings  with  any  degree  of  fairness  — 
those  of  a  municipal,  scientific  or  collegiate  nature  are  here 
especially  in  mind— could  not  possibly  be  done  in  the  limits 
of  a  letter,  or  in  many  letters,  for  they  are  chiefly  as  stupen- 
dous in  their  history  and  workings  as  in  their  massive, 
smoke-craped  masonry.  It  may  serve  to  pick  out  one  or  two 
for  mere  mention.  An  old  one  is  the  Cheetham  Library, 
built  in  1656.  The  infirmary  was  first  opened  in  1755.  Then 
come  the  Royal  Institution  and  Free  Trade  Hall,  the  latttr 
of  which  was  built  in  1856.  The  Assize  Courts  building  was 
put  up  in  1864,  at  a  cost  of  over  £100,000.  More  recent 
structures  are  the  new  Owens  College  ami  the  Town  Hall. 
This  last  named  building  cost  more  than  £1.1100.0(10,  and  is 
already  as  grimy  with  smoke  as  if  its  originally  delicate 
colored  stone  masonry  hail  stood  for  ages  in  a  city  whose  at- 
mosphere is  of  an  average  cle;mmjss.  It  stands  on  8,648 
square  yards  of  land.  Its  tower  rises  to  a  height  of  286  feet 
from  the  ground  and  is  fitted  with  a  set  of  bells  arranged  to 
ring  or  chime  tunes  every  three  hours. 

To  one  used  to  the  lofty  blue  arch  of  the  American  sky 
and  an  incomparably  purer  atmosphere  'to  be  found  almost 
anywhere  else  in  the  world  than  in  this  big  foundry  of  com- 
merce. I  it  is  an  intense  relief  to  escape  awhile  from  the  city 
of  Manchester  to  one  or  other  of  the  half  dozen  of  people's 
parks,  in  its  outskirts,  or  to  its  g  ivdens:  botanical  and  zoolog- 
ical: there  to  ponder  and  try  to  realize  the  immensity  of  the. 
ooncentrition  of  enormous  commercial  undertakings  and 
belongings,  whose 'apparently  endless  phalanx  has  monoto- 
nouslv  met  his  eve  and  understanding,  turn  which  wav  he 


BY  LAND  AND  SEA.  31 


would.  Reflection  upon  this  subject  is  something  like  an 
endeavor  to  comprehend  Niagara  Falls.  They  are  each  one 
unvaried  thing,  each  the  biggest  thing  in  the  world  of  its 
kind,  and  each  grows  bigger  in  the  mind  during  the  time 
one  has  patience  to  bestow  in  deliberate  thought  upon  it,— 
after  which,  it  is  to  be  presumed,  familiarity  would  accom- 
plish its  proverbial  result,  at  least  to  the  extent  of  one's  tak- 
ing a  great  deal  for  granted  that  was  too  large  to  grasp  and 
hold. 


VI. 

THE  PARKS  AND  GARDENS  OF  MANCHESTER — THE  COL- 
LECTIONS OP  PICTURES  AND  STATUARY — SOME  ANI- 
MALS   AND    BIRDS,    ETC. 

Manchester,  July  1(5. 

The  people  of  Manchester  are  provided  with  six  free 
parks:  Peel.  Seedley  and  Ordsal,  in  Salford;  Queen's,  in 
Harpurhey:  Philips'  in  Bradford,  and  Alexandra,  in  Moss 
Side.  All  are  easily  reached  by  tram-car  (as  street-cars  are 
called.)  Peel  and  Queen's  parks  contain  tine  museums. 
Two  of  the  parks,  located  at  opposite  points,  may  be  taken 
as  samples. 

Alexandra  park  is  now  about  fourteen  years  old  and  is 
the  youngest  of  all.  It  stands  upon  what  was  once  Green- 
heys  Fields,  and  anyone  who  would  get  a  glimpse  of 
what  they  were  should  read  the  first  chapter  of  the  best 
work  of  the  Manchester  authoress,  the  late  Mrs.  Gaskell, 
(whose  aged  husband  still  preaches  in  his  venerable  chapel 
in  Cross  street,  Manchester,)  "Mary  Barton,"  (Seaside  Li- 
brary No.  125,  ten  cents).     This  locally  revered  breathing 


32 


BY  LAXD  AXD  SKA 


spiit  was  deprived  of  its  lingering  rusticity  by  the  hand  of 
municipal  improvement,  jusr  in  time  to  save  its  life  from 
being  crushed  out  by  the  demand  for  building  space.  The 
surrounding  land  thus  became  more  valuable  and  is  now 
covered  with  vastly  better  residence  houses,  etc.,  than  had 
threatened  to  occupy  it  The  park  is  a  very  attractive  piece 
of  landscape  gardening,  with  tine  walks  and  terraces,  and 
much  skill  is  displayed  in  scheming  and  management  of  its 
flower  beds,  shrubberies  and  pretty  ornamental  waters,  upon 
the  latter  of  which  are  a  well  varied  display  of  aquatic  birds. 
Indeed,  the  way  in  which  the  immediate  vicinity  of  the 
large  manufacturing  city  is  set  at  defiance  by  the  garden- 
ers provokes  admiration,  for  the  smoke  daden  breath  of  that 
city's  atmosphere  is  a  serious  impediment  to  successful  gar- 
dening. As  is  usual  in  these  public  parks,  there  are  separ- 
ate play  grounds,  fitted  with  gymnastic  apparatus,  for  the 
two  sexes,  a  bowling  green,  plenty  of  seat  accommoda- 
tion, etc. 

Peel  park  is  two  or  three  times  as  old  as  Alexandra  and 
has,  comparatively,  the  appearance  of  a  prematurely  aged 
place.  Its  struL,rL,rle  with  the  smoke-burdened  air  envelop- 
ing it  is  apparent  at  a  glance.  But  the  battle  is  gallantly 
fought  and  the  enemy  has  not.  as  yet.  the  best  of  it.  The 
natural  advantages  of  this  park  in  the  way  of  bluff  and  val- 
ley situation  are  considerable  and  are  utilized  to  the  utmost 
In  a  grand  old  mansion,  enlarged  from  the  original,  are  a 
museum,  galleries  of  pictures  and  statues,  a  free  library  with 
a  well  supplied  reading  room.  and.  in  the  basement,  a  "tee- 
total" refreshment  room.  The  museum  is  literally  crammed 
with  riches  of  natural  history  and  the  usual  belougings  <>f 
such  an  abode  of  curious  collections,  among  which  the 
American  is  frequently  reminded  of  his  home,  even  to  the 
extent  of  seeing  an  ear  of  corn.     In  the  last  twelvemonths, 


BY  LAND  AX  J  J  SEA.  33 


nearly  700,000  visitors  have  enjoyed  themselves  in  the 
museum,  to  say  nothing  of  the  vast  number  of  persons  who 
only  use  the  park.  Specially  worthy  of  mention  in  this 
building  are  the  samples  of  Assyrian  sculpture,  casts  of 
Grecian  metopes,  from  the  Parthenon,  and  a  number  of 
Egyptian,  Mexican,  Chinese,  Oriental,  Greek,  Roman,  Cel- 
tic and  other  antiques,  including  armor  of  the  most  respect- 
able antiquity,  accompanied  by  weapons  of  bloodthirsty  ap- 
pearance and  cruel  suggestion.  The  pictures  in  the  galler- 
ies area  large  and  valuable  collection,  of  great  variety  and. 
in  many  cases,  of  striking  beauty.  Among  them  may  be 
mentioned  ''The  Queen  of  the  Tournament.''  "The  Last 
Sleep  of  Argyle,"  "The  Last  Scene  in  the  Life  of  the  Mar- 
quis of  Montrose,"  "Princess  Elizabeth  Before  the  Rom- 
ish Council,"  "The  Assertion  of  Liberty  of  Conscience.''  "A 
Dinner  Party  at  Moliere's  Villa."  "John  Wesley  with  bis 
Friends  at  Oxford,"  "The  Meeting  of  Esau  and  Jacob." 
"The  Salford  Lass,''  "A  Torrent  Scene  in  Norway,"  "Ameri- 
can Apples."  "A  Lancashire  Witch,"  "Meeting  of  the  Wes- 
leyan  Conference  in  Manchester  in  1838,"  "  Belshazzar's 
Feast,"  and  portraits  of  "Chatterton,  the  Poet,''  "Thorvald- 
sen,  the  Sculptor."  "Daniel  O'Connell,  the  Liberator,"  "Sir 
Robert  Peel,  the  Statesman.''  "James  Watt,  Inventor  of  the 
Steam  Engine,"  "Richard  Arkwright,  Founder  of  the  Present 
Factory  System,"  "John  Dalton,  the  Philosopher,"  "Handel, 
the  Composer,"  and  "Sir  Isaac  Newton."  who  was  England's 
greatest  philosopher.  Scores  of  other  grand  paintings 
silently  claim  mention,  including  many  of  local  celebrities, 

— regarded  by  the  people  with  commendable  pride .  but 

these  will  serve.  Nor  is  it  necessary  to  dwell  upon  the  scan- 
dalously unclad,  but  lovely,  marble  sculpture  centre-lining 
the  galleries,  more  than  to  mention  the  colossal  group  of 
"Venus  Disarming  Cupid"  (she  holding  his  snatched-awav- 


:S4  flY  LA XI)  AND  SEA. 

bow  at  arm's  length,  while  the  little  rascal  is  begging  to  get 
it  hack,  i  and  Pereival  Ball's  beautiful  life-sized  statue  'The 
(renins  of  Lancashire.'"     This  last  is  the  figure  of  a  young 

woman.  By  her  feet,  all  in  snowy  marble,  are  a  shuttle  and 
other  tools  typical  of  the  manufactures  of  Lancashire,  and 
she  stands,  bending  forward,  in  the  act  of  snapping  a  sword 
across  her  knee,  her  face  turned  to  the  left  and  having  the 
peculiarity  of  seeming  to  smile  when  viewed  from  the  front. 
while  "being  fall  of  grave  and  steadfast  energy  as  seen  from 
the  direction  to  which  it  is  turned. 

Among  the  free  breathing  spots  of  verdure  should  also  be 
mentioned  Ardwick  Green,  the  nearest  of  all  to  the  centre  of 
the  city,  and  including,  among  its  surroundings,  an  old 
church,  thickly  covered  with  ivy.  and  a  number  of  old 
houses,  once  residences  of  more  importance  than  any  occu- 
pants can  ever  make  them  again,  because  their  vicinity  is  so 
built  up  with  houses  of  an  inferior  grade  and  places  of  busi- 
ness. Ardwick  Green  is  a  small  promenade  park,  orna- 
mented with  flowers  and  trees  and  a  little  water.  It  is 
pretty,  and  unexpected. 

There  are  three  other  places  where  the'  lungs  seem  to  play 
more  freely  than  in  the  heart  of  the  city.  Out-  is  the  Botani- 
cal Gardens,  whose  adjective  title  leads  the  visitor  to  expect 
a  good  deal  more  in  the  way  of  scientific  plant  culture  than 
he  rinds.  These  gardens  are  the  property  of  a  "proprietary 
body,"  but  the  public  is  admitted  to  them,  by  payment,  on 
flower  show  and  musical  promenade  occasions.  Another  is 
the  Pomona  Gardens,  also  a  "proprietary"  place,  but.  always 
open  to  the  public.  Galas,  festivals  and.  occasionally, 
political  meetings  are  held  here,  and  the  gardens  are 
also  fitted  with  a  monster  "hall."  an  open-air  plat- 
form and  several  large  buildings  for  horse,  dog.  cattle, 
poultry,    pigeon   and    other    shows.     The     third,    and    last 


BY  LAND  AND  SEA.  35 


on  the  list  is  the  greatest,  and  by  far  the  most  attractive 
of  all. 

This  is  the  Belle  Vue  Zoological  Gardens,  about  ten  min- 
utes by  tram-car  beyond  Ardwick  Green,  and  two  miles  and 
a  half  from  the  centre  of  the  city.  In  default  of  the  exact 
measurement  of  these  gardens  (they  may  cover  three-quar- 
ters of  a  mile  square,  or  perhaps  not  so  much,)  an  idea  of 
them  may  be  gained  from  their  contents.  You  pay  as  you 
go  in,  and  find  free  stabling  provided  for  several  hundred 
horses.  Then  there  are  an  immense  hall,  a  large  open-air 
platform,  two  artificial  lakes  and  some  lesser  ornamental 
ponds,  all  with  islets  in  them;  an  Asiatic  kiosque,  an  Italian 
garden,  a  croquet  lawn,  nursery  and  kitchen  gardens,  orna- 
mental lawns  and  terraces,  a  large  grazing  paddock  for 
ruminant  wild  animals,  a  camellia  and  orange  house,  a 
number  of  ferneries,  hot-houses,  conservatories,  sum- 
mer-houses, two  mazes,  constructed  of  tall,  impenetrable 
hedges;  several  aviaries,  two  bear-pits,  a  very  handsome 
monkey-house,  built  after  the  style  of  an  Indian  temple;  a 
museum,  long  rows  of  dens  and  cages,  some  very  large  and 
all  well-fitted  and  beautifully  clean,  for  the  wild  beasts, 
birds  and  reptiles;  refreshment  and  tea-rooms  to  accommo- 
date thousands  at  once,  a  confectionery,  a  bakery,  gas  works, 
an  electric  light  system,  a  printing  office,  a  parcels  office  and 
other  departments,  easily  overlooked,  which  go  to  complete 
the  independence  of  the  establishment,  an  establishment 
whose  patronage  may  be  judged  by  the  fact  that  it  is  said  to 
import  its  own  tea  from  China  by  the  ship-load. 

As  for  the  zoological  treasures  of  the  gardens,  there  is  no 
need  to  classify  them,  more  than  to  try  and  show  the  parts 
of  the  world  they  come  from.  They  include  samples  of  the 
kestrel  hawk  and  falcon,  wood  and  barn  owl,  badger,  fox, 
raven,  rook  and  chough  of  England;  the  deer,  of  Scotland; 


36  BY  LAND  AND  SEA. 

the  ruff,  of  Holland;  the  wolf,  of  Sicily;  the  imperial  eagle, 
of  Greece;  the  pelican,  eagle-owl  brown  bear  and  wolf,  of 
Russia;  the  cinereous  vulture,  of  Spain;  the  Bactrian  camel, 
of  Tartary;  the  lion,  of  Babylon;  the  dromedary,  of  Egypt; 
the  tailless  ape,  of  Borneo;  the  white-headed  love-bird,  of 
Madagascar;  the  sun-bear,  of  Thibet;  the  falcon,  of  Persia: 
the  rhinoceros,  hippopotamus,  porcupine,  civet-cat.  ante- 
lope, zebra,  wattled  crane,  gallinule,  rat.  jackal,  weaver- 
bird,  bishop-bird,  whidah-tinch,  manoikiu,  lion,  caffre-buf- 
falo,  spotted  and  striped  hyena,  leopard,  and  monkeys  of 
the  hussar,  calathrix.  mandril,  mona  and  dog-faced  baboon 
varieties,  of  Africa;  the  elephant,  nylghau-antelope,  Sam- 
bur-deer,  leopard,  wild-cat,  ichneumon.  Bengal  tiger,  hog- 
deer,  axis-deer,  Brahmin  cow,  Zebu  cow;  yak  and  sacred 
and  bonnet  monkey,  of  India;  the  sheep,  mandarin  duck, 
and  gold  and  silver  pheasants,  of  China;  the  black  panther, 
of  Malacca;  the  crowned  and  demoiselle  crane,  of  the  Balea- 
ric Islands;  the  paroquet,  blue  mountain  lory,  wedged-tailed 
eagle,  laughing  kingfisher,  piping  crow,  opossum  and  cock- 
atoo, of  Australia;  the  agouti,  of  the  West  Indies;  the  black 
and  gray  squirrel,  blue-jay,  quail,  dove,  beaver,  nightingale, 
"Wapiti  deer,  bison,  black  bear,  musk-rat.  wild-duck  and 
horned-owl,  of  America;  the  indigo-bird,  cardinal,  parrot, 
paca,  tiger-cat«»razor-bill,  tapir,  puma-lion,  jaguar,  macaw. 
alpacca,  llama,  condor  and  spider-monkey,  of  South  Ameri- 
ca; the  sea-lion,  of  the  Pacific  ocean;  the  seal,  white-bear 
and  white-fox,  of  the  Arctic  regions;  beside  varied  speci- 
mens of  the  love-bird,  wild  cat.  vulture,  deer,  alpacca,  mou- 
fion,  goat,  pea-fowl,  chough,  pheasant,  beaver,  cow.  camel, 
duck,  swan,  emu,  cockatoo,  paroquet,  monkey,  squirrel, 
dove,  serpent,  crocodile,  lizard,  eagle-owl,  falcon,  pelican, 
wax-bill,  etc.,  from  many  different  parts  of  the  world,  sam- 
ples of  most  of  which  have  already  been  credited  to  other 


BY   LAND  AND  SEA.  W 


places.  Though  "lumped"  together,  bird  and  beast,  in  this 
enumeration,  their  proper  separate  accommodations  have 
already  been  mentioned,  for  they  can  only  be  "a  happy  fam- 
ily" when  rooming  apart. 

The  largest  "lake"  at  the  Belle  Vue  gardens  is  more  than 
eight  acres  iu  area,  and  numerous  pleasure  boats  and 
small  steimers  ply  upon  it.  Near  it  are  steam-horse  and  ve- 
locipede rings.  On  the  long  strip  of  land  in  the  other 
"large  lake"  is  the  great  sensation  of  Belle  Vue.  Danson's 
grand  open-air  picture, — a  different  one  each  year.  Thi# 
year  the  scene  is  the  battle-field  of  Tel-El-Kebir.  The  pic- 
ture is  many  immense  pieces  of  magnificent  scene-paint- 
ing, covering  thousands  of  square  yards  of  canvas,  and  each 
piece  set  apart  from  its  next  neighbor,  which  both  heightens 
the  effect  of  the  admirable  perspective  and  permits  the  up- 
and-down-hill  maneuvering  of  a  large  body  of  performers, 
who.  provided  with  a  band  of  music  and  accompanied  by  a 
number  of  baggage  and  ammunition  laden  camels  and 
dromedaries,  approach  the  now  historical  conflict  in  the 
evening,  at  9:45  o'clock,  just  as  the  long  twilight  begins  to 
yield  to  darkness,  or  lets  the  moon  have  undivided  sway. 
The  performers  are  in  regimental  and  native  Egyptian  at- 
tire. As  they  march,  the  first  deep  booming  gun  sounds. 
In  the  light  of  camp  tires,  seemingly  half  extinguished,  are 
seen  the  fresh  water  canal,  the  village  of  Tel-El-Kebir,  the 
round  tower  and  the  desert  and  mountains  in  the  distance. 
In  the  fore-ground  are  the  batteries,  and  the  lines,  redoubts 
and  entrenchments  of  the  Egyptians,  upon  whom  the  Brit- 
ish and  Indian  forces  are  marching  in  the  night.  As  the 
warning  gun  thunders  out  from  the  Egyptian  lines,  the 
whole  front  of  the  position  breaks  into  jets  of  red  flame 
from  rifle  and  cannon,  the  enemy  pours  in  upon  the  Egyp- 
tian   forces    and,   in    fifteen     minutes,     all    is    over.     But, 


M  BY  LA  XT)  AND  SEA. 

during  those  fifteen  minutes,  the  great  scenic  picture  is 
a  tumult  of  well  acted  strife,  illumined  by  a  pyrotechnic 
display  of  a  dazzling  grandeur,  unsurpassable — one  may  say. 
A  grand  transparency,  in  myriads  of  jets  of  colored  fire, 
closes  the  performance,  and  the  night  nov  looks  black  and 
dark  as  the  people  present  make  their  way  to  carriages, 
tram-cars  or  railways  near  the  gates  of  the  gardens. 

The  last  letter  gave  the  graver  aspect  of  "the  dark  city"— 
at  least  a  peep  at  it.  This  treats  upon  its  brighter  public 
spots,  [t  may  have  been  worth  the  time  to  look  at  these 
things,  Manchester  being  a  place  with  which  even  the  best 
travelled  American  tourists  have  little  acquaintance,  a^  a 
rule 


BY  LAND  AND  SEA.  39 


VII. 

THE  TRAMWAY  AND  ITS  CARS — THE  HIGHWAY  AND  ITS 
BEASTS  OF  BURDEN — A  TRIP  ON  THE  IRISH  SEA  TO  THE 
ISLE    OF   MAN. 

Douglas,  Isle  of  Man,  July  25. 
A  peculiarity  of  Liverpool  and  Manchester  is  that  the 
roadway  of  their  streets  is  almost  exclusively  paved  with  sets 
of  stone  of  flinty  hardness.  The  tramways,  or  rails  upon 
which  the  street  cars  run,  are  laid  in  this  pavement  and 
level  with  its  surface.  The  tramway  is  a  perfectly  flat  rail, 
with  a  groove  indented  along  it,  and  the  presence  of 
the  rail  in  the  pavement  can  hardly  be  detected  by 
the  foot  of  a  person  walking  across  it,  and  will  not  be 
noticed  unless  he  is  thinking  about  it.  Thus  these  tram- 
ways are  no  obstacle  to  the  flat  tired  wheels  of  ordinary  vehi- 
cles swerving  across  the  rails.  The  wheels  of  the  tram-cars 
are  each  slightly  but  sufficiently  flanged  to  fit  into  the  rail 
grooves.  Each  tram-car  is  constructed  to  carry  nearly  forty 
passengers,  inside  and  outside.  The  insiders  sit  with  their 
backs  to  the  sides  of  the  car.  The  ontsides  sit  back  to  back, 
each  of  the  two  rows  of  them  facing  the  buildings  along  the 
sides  of  the  streets.  They  reach  the  roof  of  the  tram-car  by 
a  comfortable  winding  stairway,  whose  outside  is  covered  or 
screened  so  as  to  prevent  an  undue  display  of  ankles  on 
the  part  of  the  numerous  ladies  who  prefer  the  outside  of 
the  car  to  its  interior.  The  fares  for  ordinary  distances  are 
three-pence  inside  and  two-pence  outside.  Weather  per- 
mitting, the  outside  is  much  the  pleasantest  part  of  the  car. 


40  BY  LAND  AND  SEA. 

This  opinion  may  be  thought  to  indicate  a  cheap  and  vulgar 
mind,  influenced  by  the  "tuppence."  The  "thrippenny" pas- 
senger certainly  sets  more  for  his  money.  His  toes  are 
more  trodden  upon  and  stabbed  by  the  points  of  umbrellas 
and  sticks,  more  elbows  are  stuck  in  his  eye,  he  is  more  sat 
down  upon  in  mistake  for  a  seat,  and,  if  an  old  lady  with  a 
stony  glare  enters  the  car.  he  is  more  apt  than  not  to  find  her 
plant  herself  opposite  him  and  stare  him  out  of  bis  counte- 
nance all  the  rest  of  the  trip.  Manchester  has  an  admirable 
feature  in  its  tramways.  Except  at  necessary  dead  ends  of 
lines  in  the  suburbs,  the  tracks  at  the  termini  loop  round  a 
block,  the  cars  thus  going  back  upon  their  return  trip  on 
another  track,  parallel  to  the  one  oil  which  they  came.  This 
prevents  the  necessity  and  delay  of  switching.  The  whole 
arrangement  is  patented,  and  perhaps  its  most  minions 
point  is  the  way  in  which,  when  it  is  necessary  to  turn  a  car 
back  at  the  dead  end  of  the  line,  the  horses  simply  walk 
round  in  a  semi -circle,  the  body  of  the  car  revolving  with 
them  on  a  pivot  on  the  wheels-truck  beneath,  (somewhat  af- 
ter the  fashion  of  t lie  swinging  of  the  bridge-draw  at  Rock 
Island,  and  similarly  bolted  in  place  when  the  act  of  revers- 
ing the  car  is  completed.) 

Another  feature  of  the  roads  of  Liverpool  and  Manchester 
is  noteworthy.  This  is  the  "beasts  of  burden"  which  toil 
along  them.  Of  course,  there  are  plenty  of  fancy  carriage 
horses,  which  "toil  not  neither  do  they  spin,"  except  meta- 
phorically. These  are  not  referred  to.  nor  are  the  useful 
light-draft  horses,  which  are  employed  formally  readily  im- 
agined purposes  The  "beasts  of  burden"  intended  to  be 
specified  are  the  heavy-draft  horses,  those  huge  cart  horses 
used  to  draw  lurries  and  other  vehicles  constructed  to  carry 
heavy  loads.  A  lurry  (the  word  is  local'  is  a  four-wheeled 
wagon  or  drav  without  ends  or  sides,  the  loading  of  weightv 


BY  LAST)  AND  SEA.  41 


press-packed  bales  of  uncertain  dimensions  being  found  to 
be  easiest  on  this  shape  of  vehicle.  The  truck  of  the  lurry 
is  of  great  strength  and  the  wheels  are  massive,  their  broad 
tires  suggesting  stout  armor  plate.  The  usual  motive  power 
of  the  lurry  is  one  horse,  harnessed  in  the  shafts.  If  more 
power  is  needed,  particularly  in  going  up-hill,  a  second 
horse  is  placed  in  front  of  the  shaft  horse,  and  sometimes  a 
third  horse  is  added,  also  tandem.  More  horses  can  be 
strung  on  ahead,  of  course,  if  necessary  A  fine  lurry  horse 
weighs  probably  not  far  from  3,000  pounds,  is  so  symmetri- 
cally proportioned  as  not  to  look  at  all  awkward  and  is 
usually  as  rounded  as  an  apple  and  as  sleek  as  velvet,  its  full 
mane  and  tail  beiuj,'  dressed  with  scrupulous  care  and  the 
shaggy  hair  of  its  fetlocks  assiduously  combed.  It  some- 
how conveys  the  impression  of  a  pet  lion,  though  that  can 
only  be  by  its  evidence  of  majestic,  controlled  strength. 
These  horses  are  perfectly  broken  and  obey  their  teamsters- 
commands  at  the  mere  word,  while  in  many  situations  seem- 
iiiLf  to  exercise  a  human  intelligence  in  manceuvering  in 
densely  crowded  and  sometimes  very  narrow  streets.  It  is 
a  si^'ht  to  the  unaccustomed  stranger  to  see  a  lurry  horse 
start  off  with  a  load.  A  word  from  the  teamster  and  the  big 
animal  leans  firmly  forward  into  its  collar.  Its  movements 
then  are  steadily  cumulative.  A  dull  snapping  sound  is 
heard  as  the  links  of  the  harness  adjust  their  accurate  fit  to 
the  strain,  the  shoes  of  the  hind  feet  grasp  the  flinty  square- 
set  stones  of  the  level  pavement,  their  large  calks  having  a 
roomy  tit  between  the  flat  tops  of  the  stones;  the  haunches 
steadily  strain  till  dee])  creases  appear  where  the  greatest 
roundness  was,  the  wheels  of  the  lurry  begin  to  revolve,  and, 
as  the  horse's  hind  legs  reach  their  stretch,  the  powerful 
calks  of  the  shoes  on  the  fore-feet  grip  the  pavement  in 
earnest,  sparks  of   fire  fly   as  the  hind  shoes  release   their 


4-2  BY  LAX  I)  A  XI)  SKA 


grasp  and  take  fresh  foot-hold,  the  heavily  loaded  lurry  has 
"way"  and  moves  off  ponderously.  Au  exhibition  of  great 
strength,  intelligently  used,  is  generally  a  fascinating  sight, 
and  it  is  no  unusual  thing  to  see  the  Manchester  man  pause 
and  glance  admiringly  while  the  spectacle  of  a  lurry  horse, 
starting  a  load  which  is  nearly  up  to  its  full  strength,  is  in 
process.  And  the  teamsters,  who  are  extremely  proud  of 
their  individual  horses,  are  happy  men  at  such   moments. 

One  other  draft  animal  should  be  mentioned.  This  is 
the  donkey,  that  unconscious  cause  of  so  much  facetious- 
ness;  whose  unfortunateness  in  the  matter  of  ears  and  voice 
are  so  often  thrown  into  its  teeth  by  persons  who  grudge 
it  the  possession  of  the  estimable  quality  of  firmness. 
Quite  a  surprising  number  of  donkeys  are  used  in  Liver- 
poo]  and  Manchester,  and  it  is  fair  to  say  that  these  patient 
and  cheaply  maintained  beasts  seem  to  be  generally  well- 
treated.  Otherwise  they  would  not  be  seen  trudging  or  trot- 
ting along  the  streets  with  the  sprightliness  they  show.  In- 
deed it  is  rare  to  see  one  with  the  downcast  appearance  which 
follows  ill-usage.  The  vehicles  drawn  by  the  donkeys  are, 
almost  invariably,  small,  two-wheeled  carts,  specially  con- 
structed for  them,  and  some  of  the  carts  are  very  nicely  put 
together.  One  of  these  donkeys  thinks  nothing  of  trotting 
contentedly  along,  at  a  good  speed,  with  a  couple  of  men, 
or  three  or  four  boys.  or.  on  Sundays,  its  fat  Master  and 
plump  Missis  in  the  cart. 

And  ponies,  about  the  size  of  the  donkeys,  are  also  quite 
the  thing  with  a  certain  class.  The  proprietor  of  one  of 
these,  got  up  regardless  of  expense,  with  the  brim  of  his 
shining  silk  hit  very  far  down  toward  hi-  nose  and  the  tip  of 
hi-  cigar  or  the  bowl  of  his  fancy  short  pipe  tilted  up  to  his 
hat-brim,  sitting  in  the  attitude  of  a  fashionable  Jehu  and 
having  altogether  an  indescribably  knowing  aspect,  may  oc- 


BY  LAND  AND  SEA.  43 


casionally  be  seen,  out  for  the  day.  His  name  is  probably 
'Arry,  or  it  may  be  'Orace  or  Halbert.  Street  boys  look  on 
him  with  a  lingering  envy  and  are  consumed  with  speechless 
admiration.  To  them  he  is  the  gemiine  article,  the  summit 
of  their  social  pinnacle.  They  know  it,  as  does  he.  and 
there  is  a  kindly  glance  of  understood  and  accepted  appre- 
ciation in  his  eyes  as  he  bestows  a  passing  look  down  upon 
the  Arabs.  From  his  little  pony  cart  it  is  not  very  far  down, 
and  maybe  the  secret  of  the  admiration  is  partly  because  he 
is  so  splendid  and  yet  so  lowly.  Any  way,  the  boys  re- 
serve their  offending  sarcasm  for  such  high-mounted  speci- 
mens of  "Arry's  class-superiors  as  look  as  if  they  would  be 
sorely  worsted  in  an  effort  to  earn  their  own  living  and  that 
of  a  pony  as  well. 

Large  delegations  of  the  Lancashire  multitude,  and  num- 
bers from  other  points,  generally  manufacturing  places,  reg- 
ularly make  their  summer  trip  to  the  Isle  of  Man,  an  island 
centrally  situated  in  the  Irish  sea,  between  Great  Britain 
and  Ireland.  The  island,  not  taking  extreme  points  into 
consideration,  may  be  said  to  be  thirty  miles  long  and  ten 
wide;  say  seventy  miles  in  circumference  and  containing  an 
area  of  about  225  square  miles.  Its  middle  is  on  54  degrees,  46 
minutes  north  latitude.  The  parallel  of  its  northernmost  point 
is  that  of  Downpatrick,  Ireland,  and  Ambleside,  England; 
the  parallel  of  its  most  southerly  point  being  that  of  Kil- 
more,  Ireland,  and  Lancaster  and  York,  England.  Being 
equidistant,  some  sixty  to  seventy  miles,  from  its  neighbors, 
the  mountainous  coast  scenery  of  Ireland,  Scotland  and 
England  can  be  readily  seen  from  its  high  ranges  on  a  clear 
day,  and  Welsh  moimtains,  still  further  off,  are  also  often 
distinctly  visible.  The  town  of  Douglas,  which  is  in  all  re- 
spects the  most  important  on  the  island,  is  the  one  to  which 
the  large   majority  of   the  visitors   go,    making    incursions 


t4  BY  LAND  AND  SEA. 

thence  by  carriage,  railway,  or  on  foot,  to  the  many  points 

of  interest  in  other  parts  of  the  island.     Swift  1  steam- 

ers run  from  several  ports  in  the  different  countries  to  the 
island,  but  principally  from  Liverpool  and  Barrow.  The 
average  sea  passage  from  Liverpool,  seventy-five  miles  to 
Douglas,  is  made  in  four  and  a  half  hours.  The  voyager 
goes  011  hoard  from  the  Prince's  Pier.  Liverpool,  and  proba- 
bly finds  that  he  has  70!)  or  800  voyagers  to  shire  the  three- 
deck  accommodation.  Uppermost  is  the  promenade  deck, 
next  is  the  saloon  deck,  the  lowest  being  the  deck  contain- 
ing the  dining  saloon.  Different  boats  have  different  ar- 
rangements, but  these  will  do  for  an  idea.  The  seat  accom- 
modation on  all  the  decks  is  excellent,  that  (if  the  saloon 
proper  being  all  of  the  "ohdet-me-lie-down-and-die"  order, 
luxurious  little  lounge  berths  with  soft  pillows.  A  channel 
passage  is  notoriously  disastrous  to  poor  sailors,  and  it  must 
be  admitted  that  the  steamers  often  roll  on  a  swell  and  a 
cross-sea.  even  without  any  wind  worth  mentioning,  all  the 
way  from  port  to  harbor.  But  the  way  in  which  so  many 
passengers  agonize  themselves  with  sea-sickness  on  the 
journey  is  remarkable,  their  suffering  in  some  instances  be- 
ing truly  pitiable  to  witness.  And  th-  well  can  hardly  help 
seeing,  and  must  hear  and  otherwise  perceive,  the  sick. 
Then-  is  no  chance  of  any  practical  retirement.  The  keen 
eyes  of  the  experienced  stewards  instantly  spot  those  whom 
nausea  is  overpowering,  a  commodious  tin  receptacle  of 
spittoon  pattern  is  invitingly  placed  at  the  feet  of  each  vic- 
tim, ami — the  vessel  rolls  on.  For  those  who  have  sea  legs 
and  stomachs,  and  they  are  a  respectable  number,  the  pas- 
sage is  a  delightful  and  exhilarating  trip.  The  tightly  built 
ami  beautiful  steamer  speeds  on  with  pleasantly  exciting 
commotion,  its  buzzing  paddles  dashing  the  water  in  froth- 
ing heaps  behind  them  on  either  hand,  and  its  straight,  thin 


BY  LAXD  AXD  SEA.  45 

stem  cutting  the  chopping  seas  into  hillocks  of  leaping  spray. 
There  is  music  on  board,  too;  a  blind  man  who  performs 
superbly  on  a  concertina  in  one  part  of  the  boat,  and,  in  an- 
other, an  Englishman  in  a  Scotch  cap,  who  plays  patriotic 
British  and  Irish  airs  upon  a  Welsh  harp.  He  plays  well 
and  the  pathetic,  even  plaintive  melody  which  seems  to  un- 
derlie almost  all  national  music,  is  swept  on  the  light  breeze 
with  a  peculiarly  soothing  sound.  Distant  ships  and  steam- 
ers are  quizzed  through  binocular  glasses  and  telescopes  for 
a  while,  but,  when  the  steamer  is  within  good  sight  of  land, 
everything  else  is  subordinate  to  the  interest  excited  by  the 
rock-bound  island,  looming  ahead  and  gradually  revealing 
what  is  claimed  to  be  the  loveliest  bay  in  the  world,  with  the 
picturesque  Tower  of  Eefuge  on  the  dangerous  rock  in  its 
centre,  and  the  still  more  picturesque  houses  of  the  old 
town  rising,  as  if  upon  ascending  terraces,  in  the  back- 
ground, every  shade  of  green  carpeting  the  sloping,  many- 
headed  highlands,  from  waving  wheat  to  dark  hued  gorse 
and  heather,  down  to  the  sharp  face  of  the  seaboard,  where 
all  verdure  abruptly  ceases,  except  in  sheltered  nooks.  The 
water  gradually  shoals,  and  the  strange  translucence  it  has 
here  is  becoming  apparent.  In  a  minute  or  two  the  sea- 
weed meadows  covering  the  rocky  bottom  of  the  bay  will  be 
to  be  seen  through  the  deceptive  purity  of  the  crystalline 
water,  the  gun  from  Douglas  head  has  sounded  away  aloft,  its 
echaes  scarcely  ceasing  to  reverberate  from  Banks'  How 
and  the  crescent  of  mountains  when  the  Battery  Pier  is  pass- 
ed, and  the  gun  from  Fort  Anne  booms  on  the  port  beam  as 
the  steamer  dashes  up  with  a  short  check  to  the  Victoria 
Pier,  where  crowds  await  her  arrival.  It  is  at  this  moment 
that  the  pent-up  breath  of  excitement  escapes  in  sighs  of 
satisfaction  from  the  bosoms  of  the  passengers,  and  they 
say,  with  one  accord:  "Well,  we're  there?" 


46  BY  LAXD  AND  SEA. 


VIII. 

MONA'S  ISLE — ITS  GOVERNMENT  AND  AREA — THE  THREE 
LEGS — A  PARADISE  OF  FLOWERS  AND  FRUIT — A  RUGGED 
SEA  COAST — A  BATHING   PLACE — "HI  KELLY!'' 

Douglas,  Isle  of  Man,  Aug  4. 
The  Isle  of  Man,  like  the  world  itself,  is  pre-historio.  It  is 
also  known  as  Monti's  Isle.  The  word  Man  is  said  to  be  an 
abbreviation  of  the  Manx  word  Manuin,  or  Meadhon-in,  sig- 
nifying Middle  Island  (between  Scotland,  Ireland  and  Eng- 
land). Mona  is  said  to  be  from  Mon,  meaning  isolated.  The 
population  of  the  island,  according  to  census  returns  made 
three  weeks  ago,  is  54,089,  not  including  men  at  sea.  Sixty 
years  ago,  the  population  was  40,081,  the  strongly  emigrative 
habits  of  its  prolific  people  causing  the  increase  to  seem 
small.  The  emigration  has  been  chiefly  to  America,  the  Manx 
people  having  a  great  bias  toward  self-government.  The 
island  has  its  own  parliament  and  law  courts,  entirely  inde- 
pendent of  those  of  England.  The  legislative  body  is  the 
court  of  Tynwald.  the  parliament  consisting  of  the  Council 
and  the  House  of  Keys,  and  every  bill  passed  and  royally 
assented  to  is  read  publicly,  in  the  Manx  and  English  lan- 
guages, on  Tynwald  Hill,  to  which  the  place  of  meeting  for 
this  purpose  was  removed  300  years  ago.  The  electoral  qual- 
ification is,  in  the  country,  the  ownership  of  real  estate  of 
the  yearly  value  of  £8,  or  occupation  at  a  rental  of  £12,  while 
the  payment  of  C8  rent  per  annum  qualities  a  town  resident 
as  an  elector,— and  women  are  allowed  to  vote  on   the  same 


BY  LAND  AND  SEA.  47 

basis.  A  great  deal  could  be,  and  bas  been,  written  about  tbe 
curious  features  of  tbe  government  of  tbe  island,  but  it  is 
enough  to  add,  here,  that  it  works  admirably  and  is  as  digni- 
fied as  if  it  ruled  a  vast  continent,  or  at  least  bad  such  a  task 
upon  its  mind. 

Who  was  ruling  the  Isle  of  Man  at  the  time  of  the  flood  is 
uncertain,  but  the  Welsh  had  sway  from  the  sixth  century 
to  the  tenth,  after  which  the  country  was  variously  owned  and 
ruled  by  Scandinavians,  Scots  and  English,  aud  its  coat  of 
arms  was  a  ship  in  full  sail  until,  in  1270,  Alexander  of  Scot- 
land changed  it  to  "the  three  legs,"  its  heraldic  badge  now 
for  over  GOO  years,  and  bearing  the  motto:  "Quocunque  jec- 
eris  stabit," freely  translated:  "Whithersoever  thrown,  I  shall 
stand,"  or  "Whichever  way  yon  throw,  it  will  stand," — sup- 
posed to  have  reference  to  its  ancient  reliance  upon  the  in- 
dividual help  of  England,  or  Ireland,  or  Scotland,  if  any  one 
of  these  three  countries  menaced  it.  Tbe  heraldic  descrip- 
tion of  the  armorial  bearings  is:  "Gules,  three  legs  (of  a  man) 
in  armor,  conjoined  in  fesse  at  the  upper  part  of  the  thighs, 
Hexed  in  triangle,  garnuled  and  spurred."  The  legs,  each 
bent  at  the  knee,  are  uuited  at  the  hips,  like  the  spokes  of  a 
wheel  are  at  its  axle,  and  each  leg  seems  to  be  (literally) 
spurring  at  top  speed  in  the  vain  endeavor  to  overtake  the 
leg  next  in  front  of  it.  Regarded  vertically,  one,  if  not  two, 
of  the  feet  of  the  legs  is  mathematically  compelled  to  appear 
standing,  while  the  other  two,  or  one,  are  waiting  in  the  air 
in  readiness  to  relieve  guard  at  the  first  symptom  of  a  move. 
The  "three  legs" are  funny,  but  the  people  love  their  quaint 
symbol  and  affix  it  to  everything  possible,  and  no  visitor 
leaves  tbe  island  without  buying  a  few  keepsakes  stamped 
with  the  "three  legs."  An  old  story,  the  moss  upon  which 
is  always  fresh  and  green,  is  told  of  a  worthy  couple  from 
some  English  town.      Quoth  the  husband:  "I  tell  you  again, 


IS 


73 r  LAXD  AXD  SEA. 


my  love,  that  them's  the  Minx  arms."  "No  they  isn't."  re- 
sponded the  wife,  indignantly,  pointing  with  her  umbrella 
to  the  subject  of  controversy,  painted  life  size  on  a  sign, 
"No  they  isn't!     Them's  legs!!" 

A  recent  competent  authority  says  that  ''the  Isle  of  Man  is 
thirty- three  miles  long,  twelve  miles  in  greatest  width,  and 
has  an  area  of  150.000  acres,  two-thirds  under  cultivation.  At 
its  southwestern  extremity  is  an  islet,  known  as  the  Calf  of 
Man.  containing  HOI l  acres,  a  portion  of  which  is  under  cultiva- 
tion. A  chain  of  lofty  hills  traverses  the  island  longitudinally. 
The  coast  line  is  very  hue.  with  bold,  lofty  headlands  and 
beautiful  sweeps  of  bay.  The  sea  has  a  clearness  rarely 
seen.  The  climate  is  like  that  of  the  south  of  Devonshire. 
England:  moist  and  mild,  ami  the  vegetation  is  peculiarly 
abundant.  Flowers,  which  in  the  greater  part  of  England 
require  shelter  in  winter,  flourish  in  the  open  air  all  the  year 
round  and  attain  extraordinary  dimensions."  Hydrangeas 
are  almost  trees  and  the  hedgerows  are  of  fuchsia,  privet  and 
hawthorn,  usually  clipped  to  nearly  the  height  of  a  man.  but 
sometimes  allowed  to  grow  three  or  four  feet  higher.  To  see 
a  dense,  impenetrable  hedge  of  fuchsia,  crimsoned  with  its 
multitude  of  drooping  flowers,  as  at  this  season,  is  a  lovely 
vision.  There  is  one.  near  where  these  lines  are  written,  the 
trunk  of  each  fuchsia  of  which  is  that  of  a  tree,  from  rive  to 
seven  inches  in  diameter.  In  front  of  a  house,  within  half 
a  mile,  grows  a  handsome  palm  tree,  perhaps  twenty  feet 
high,  of  the  kind  usual'y  seen  in  the  great  hot  houses  of 
"show"  places.  Hoses  are  in  marvelous  profusion  and  vari- 
ety, and  the  air  s,-,-ms  sometimes  overpowering  with  the 
scent  of  ihein.  combined  with  that  of  the  prodigal  wealth  of 
other  kinds  of  flowers.  Wild  flowers  line  the  roads,  and  the 
houses,  particularly  the  smaller  ones  in  the  country,  are  al- 
most   imbedded    in    flowers,    wild    and   cultivated.      These 


BY  LA XI)  A  XI)  SEA.  49 


things  sound  like  a  romance,  and  are,  in  effect  to  unaccus- 
tomed eyes,  "a  dream  come  true."  Fruit  follows  bloom,  in 
'uxuriance.  One  strawberry,  the  largest  in  the  box  (costing 
live  pence)  bought  at  a  shop  a  few  days  ago,  measured  in 
circumference  seven  inches  one  way  and  six  inches  the 
other  way.  Miss  Todd,  proprietress  of  one  of  the  numer- 
ous strawberry  gardens  of  Douglas  and  vicinity,  selected  the 
largest  and  best  of  one  day's  picking  in  her  garden  and 
found  that  twenty-four  of  the  strawberries  completely  cover- 
ed a  china  plate,  from  outside  rim  to  outside  rim,  a  diame- 
ter of  nine  and  a  half  inches.  Fifteen  of  them  covered  the 
plate's  surface  and  the  other  nine  made  up  the  pyramid  in- 
to which  a  show  plate  of  strawberries  is  usually  shaped. 
•Jargonelle  pears,  greengage  and  dark  plums,  black,  red  and 
white  currants,  raspberries,  gooseberries,  apples,  grapes 
red  and  white-heart  cherries,  vegetable  marrows,  etc  ,  some 
going  out  and  others  coining  in.  look  and  taste  well,  but 
the  strawberry  mow  beginning  to  go  out)  is  king  of  all.  He 
is,  of  course,  very  numerously  eaten  with  cream,  but  those 
who  have  reduced  the  eating  of  him  to  a  tine  art  obtain  his 
tine  flavor  to  the  fullest  degree  in  a  different  way.  By  them, 
he  is  divided  by  a  fruit  knife  into  two  or  three  slices,  accord- 
ing to  size.     The  cut  surfaces  are  then  gently  dabbed  on 

loaf  sugar  ground  to  dust,    and but  why  excite  emotions 

which  cannot  possibly  be  gratified  until  another  strawberry 
season  comes  round? 

Douglas  is  a  town  of  15.000  inhabitants  and  has  an  enor- 
mous patronage  in  the  line  of  visitors,  whose  average  stay 
is  a  week  or  ten  days.  During  the  height  of  the  season  as 
many  as  30,000  visitors  are  accommodated  at  once.  The 
streets  are  alive  with  most  attractive  shops  and  marts  and 
the  endless  throng  of  persons  during  the  season  leave  a 
great  deal  of  money  behind    them.     The  pretty  town,  whose 


.",(1  BY  LAX  I)  AND  SKA. 

castellated  structures  and  picturesque  houses  and  public 
buildings  rise  over  each  other's  heads  from  the  tideway  up 
the  bosom  of  the  steep  slope  of  the  background,  stretches 
around  the  arc  of  the  bay  for  two  miles,  between  the  shoul- 
ders of  the  two  promontories,  Douglas-  Head  and  Banks' 
How  (or  Onchau  Point.)  whose  arms  reach  over  a  mile  into 
the  sea  on  either  side,  the  height  of  each  promontory 
being  300  feet.  Standing  facing  the  water,  at  the  middle  of 
the  arc  of  the  bay,  Banks'  How  is  on  the  left  hand  and 
Douglas  Head  on  the  right.  The  left  half  of  the  shore  is 
partly  a  sand  slope,  used  for  bathing  and  dotted  with  a  hun- 
dred bathing  "machines, "'  each  looking  like  a  tall  Noah's-ark 
on  wheels,  and  the  slope  is  separated  into  two  territories,  for 
the  different  sexes.  The  males  wear  no  dress  in  the  water, 
except  a  tiny  pair  of  very  apologetic  drawers,  while  the  fe- 
males are  attired  in  hideous  blue-flannel  garments,  of  for- 
bidding aspect  and  (they  say)  incommoding  effect.  Left  of 
the  bathing  part,  the  shore  merges  into  an  expanse  of  rugged 
rocks  as  far  as  the  "arm-pit"  of  Banks'  How.  Here  stands 
Derby  Castle,  from  which  a  grand  display  of  fireworks  is 
"let  off"  at  lfl  o'clock  every  night.  From  the  middle  of  the 
arc,  an  iron  pier  stretches,  seventeen  feet  wide  with  a  pa- 
vilion at  its  extremity.  l,(MI(t  feet  into  the  bay, — which  is 
nearly  three  miles  across  between  the  points  of  Douglas  Head 
and  Banks'  How  and  not  very  far  from  two  miles  deep  from 
the  centre  of  its  width  between  the  points  to  the  centre  of 
the  arc.  Close  by  the  latter,  is  the  inevitable  stand  of  don- 
keys and  horses,  not  imported  from  America,  but  just  the 
same  as  at  Atlantic  City  and  elsewhere  on  the  Atlantic  coast. 
The  half  of  the  shore  on  the  right  is  mostly  utilized  for  a 
vast  pleasure-boat  business,  and,  as  in  the  other  case, 
merges  into  a  hilly  stretch  of  sharp  rocks,  which  would  tear 
the  bottom  of  a  ship  to  rags.      Based    upon    one    dangerous 


BY  LAND  AND  SEA.  51 


jetty  of  rock  is  the  Victoria  Pier,  a  magnificent  piece  of 
work,  fifty  feet  wide,  1,100  feet  long  and  thirty-one  feet 
above  low  watermark.  It  is  built  of  large  blocks  of  concrete 
stone,  and  stands  where  once  stood  an  ancient  fort  with  a 
dungeon  beneath.  The  passenger  steamers  generally  land 
at  this  pier.  A  short  distance  to  the  right,  with  rocks  and 
some  sandshore  intervening,  is  the  "'old  red  stone  pier," 
forty  feet  wide  and  520  feet  long,  with  a  light-house  at  its 
extremity.  Again  to  the  right,  curving  diagonally  to  the  left 
from  the  elbow  of  Douglas  Head  toward  the  Victoria  Pier,  is 
the  Battery  Pier,  a  breakwater  nearly  of  the  dimensions  of 
the  Victoria  Pier,  built  likewise  of  blocks  of  concrete  stone, 
with  a  stout,  high,  parapetted  sea-wall  at  its  outer  edge  and 
terminating  in  a  lighthouse.  Then  come  some  awful  rocks, 
with  intervals  of  pebble -floored  nooks  or  fissures,  in  chinks 
at  the  foot  or  base  of  Douglas  Head.  One  of  these,  named 
Port  Skillion,  is  a  popular  resort  for  men  who  are  good  swim- 
mers. Small  caves  in  the  rock  serve  them  for  dressing 
rooms,  and  little  piers  of  concrete  stone  skirt  the  cruel  rocks 
so  that  they  may  dive  therefrom  into  the  dazzlingly  bright, 
clear  water.  It  is  a  spot  of  fascinating  beauty,  especially 
when  looking  down  into  it  from  the  path  edging  and  round- 
ing the  precipice  some  200  to  800  feet  above,  leading  to  the 
Head.  On  a  large  rock  jutting  from  the  foot  of  Douglas 
Head  is  another  lighthouse,  serving,  like  the  other  two,  to 
mark  the  only  safe  course  into  the  fine  harbor  nearly  en- 
closed by  the  arms  of  the  Battery  and  Old  Red  piers,  with 
the  Victoria  Pier  partially  screening  the  entrance.  The  har- 
bor is  also  the  estuary  of  the  Douglas  river  (formed  by  the 
union  of  the  Dhoo,  or  ,;black"  and  the  Glass,  or  "grey"  riv- 
ers, )  and  vessels  ride  in  it,  with  safety,  during  even  the  most 
furious  gales.  In  the  hay,  about  half  way  between,  and  fur- 
ther out  than,  the   extremities  of   the  Victoria  Pier  and  the 


in    LAND  AND  SEA 


Iron  Pier,  is  a  formidable  rocky  islet  known  as  the  rock  of 
Conister,  upon  which  stands,  in  strength  seemingly  as  rug- 
ged as  itself,  the  stone  Tower  of  Refuge  in  which  unlucky 
mariners  may  shelter,  if  need  he.  Many  a  life,  as  well  as 
boat,  was  lost  on  Conister  rock  before,  half  a  century  ago. 
the  tri  castellated  tower  was  built  upon  it.  On  this  ruck  are 
oyster  beds  of  considerable  value  to  Douglas. 

The  names  of  many  Manxmen  are,  like  the  tailless  native 
cats,  peculiar  to  the  island,  though  emigration  has  spread 
them  in  the  world.  Take  a  few:  Clucas.  Qualtrough,  Myl- 
chreest.  Quayle.  Taggart.  'JYare,  Cain.  Quirk,  Christian, 
Kermode.  Rkillicorn,  Quilleash,  Kissack.  Quinney,  Qnine, 
Quiggi*,  Quilliam  Kewley,  Kneale,  Kelly.  This  last  is  so 
common  that  it  is  related  how  an  English  visitor,  landing  on 
the  pier  and  desiring  the  assistance  of  a  man  whose  name  he 
knew  to  be  Kelly,  called  out  "Hi!  Kelly,  come  and  take  my 
bag!" — whereupon  twenty-seven  porters  and  boatmen  rush- 
ed up  and  tore  the  two  handles  off  the  bag  in  a  second.  It 
is  the  by-word  and  epitome  of  wit  with  those  of  the  visitors 
inclined  to  innocent  levity,  who  must  give  their  exuberant 
spirits  vent  or  burst.  It  is  own  son  to  the  query  relating  to 
the  man  who  struck  Billy  Patterson.  At  any  moment,  on 
the  broad  concrete  stone  promenade,  whose  sea  wall  skirts 
the  right  half  of  the  bay.  one  may  expect  to  hear,  from  the 
top  of  a  passing  tram-car:  "Hi!  Kelly!"  Or,  at  the  railway 
station,  a  youth  will  stick  his  head  out.  as  he  starts  for  Peel 
or  Ramsey,  and  call  back  to  the  friends  he  haves  behind: 
"Hi!  Kell-ay!"  Or  Tom  Thistletop,  who  has  climbed  on 
Douglas  head  to  watch  a  steamer  come  in.  will  shout  down 
to  Jack  Bumblebottoin,  who  is  inspecting  the  lighthouse  be- 
low: "Hi!  Kell-a-a-y!"  Explosions  of  laughter  greet  each  of 
these  sallies.  They  convey  a  well  understood  joke,  and  light- 
hearted  holiday  makers  need  little  to  rouse  their  merriment. 


751'  LAND  A XI)  SEA.  53 


IX. 

THE  ISLE  OF  MAX — ITS  EQUABLE  CLIMATE,  BEAUTIFUL 
SCENERY  AND  GRAND  ANTIQUITIES— RUINED  CASTLES 
AND    CHURCH    INSTITUTIONS— THE    FISHERIES. 

Douglas,  Isle  of  Man,  Aug  15. 
In  a  pretty  little  hand-book,  the  Isle  of  Man  Steam-Packet 
Company  casually  gives  a  few  accurate  figures  about  the  isl- 
and, pointing  out  that  its  situation,  in  the  midst  of  the  Irish 
Sea,  which,  through  St.  George's  Channel,  is  continous 
with  that  part  of  the  Atlantic  in  which  the  Gulf  Stream  flows, 
gives  it  the  benefit  of  that  strange  oceanic  current  flowing  from 
the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  The  Isle  of  Man  contains  exactly  145,325 
acres  of  land,  or  227  square  miles  and  45  acres.  Its  northern 
mountains  cover  an  area  of  19,898  acres,  and  its  southern 
mountains  8,495  acres,  above  the  line  of  cultivation,  the 
mean  height  of  the  northern  group  being  1,545  and  that  of 
the  southern  group  1,355  feet.  The  small  size  of  the  island 
and  the  great  number  of  masses  of  elevated  '"land''  within  its 
limited  area  tend  to  preserve  the  equable  temperature  afford- 
ed by  the  surrounding  sea.  The  limited  area  forbids  protrac- 
ted frosts  and  intense  cold,  and  it  is  claimed  that  the  elevated 
masses,  the  mountains,  seem  to  store  up  the  summer  heat, 
giving  it  out  during  the  winter  months,  thus  postponing  the 
rigor  of  the  season  until  the  sun  has  regained  some  of  its 
power.  Opinions  may  differ  on  this,  but  the  mean  temper- 
ature of  the  Isle  of  Man  in  January  is  41.40  degrees.  In  July, 
the  mean  is  59.80  degrees  and  the  mean  of  the  whole  year  is 


VI  BY  LAND  AND  SKA. 


49.40  degrees.  The  wannest  summer  clays  are  invariably  fol- 
lowed by  a  refreshing  coolness  at  night,  which  is  safe  and  not 
chilling.  Thns  it  will  readily  be  understood  that  the  atmos- 
pheric conditions  of  the  island  are  of  an  enviable  equability, 
and  when  it  is  added  that  the  many  gentle  rains  only  meas- 
ure a  total  of  27  inches  in  the  year  it  can  be  understood  how 
rich  are  the  verdure  and  floral  beauties  of  the  land. 

It  must  sound  curious  to  say  that  the  places  of  interest  in 
the  island  are  so  numerous  as  to  puzzle  a  letter  writer  what 
to  select  from  them  for  mention,  but  such  is  the  case,  and 
those  spoken  of  must  perforce  be  an  imperfect  selection. 
Across  the  old  stone  bridge  above  the  harbor  of  Douglas, 
the  Nunnery  is  not  far  to  seek.  It  is  a  grand  castellated 
stone  building,  a  residence,  covered,  as  is  also  its  stone 
fencing,  with  dense  ivy.  But  little  remains  of  the  ancient 
nunnery,  said  to  have  been  built  in  the  sixth  century.  The 
surrounding  grounds  are  beautiful  and  include  a  time-hon- 
ored "lovers'  walk."  buried  in  foliage.  Beyond,  with  lovely 
gardens  and  grounds  intervening,  is  Kirk  Braddan,  the  old 
churchyard  of  which  contains  some  rough  stones  of  reputed 
Druidic  origin.  The  stones  are  supposed  really  to  be  in 
memory  of  ancient  Scandinavians.  There  are  many  inter- 
estin."  old  gravestones,  too,  and  not  a  few  of  them  in  mem- 
ory of  persons  drowned  at  sea,  or  slain  in  battles  in  foreign 
lauds  or  in  naval  warfare,  in  bygone  days.  There  is  also  a 
handsome  new  "kirk"  near  by,  in  which  the  services  are 
now  held.  A  race  course,  with  a  stand  to  accommodate 
1 .000  people,  is  a  short  walk  farther  on.  but  it  is  a  financial 
failure.  Many  pretty  roads  lead  round  and  into  Douglas. 
but  the  sweetest  is  one  over  what  is  called  the  Quarter 
Bridge,  from  which,  embowered  in  nestling  shade  trees, 
one  looks  down  into  the  clear  Glass  river  and  watches  the 
gliding  fish  beneath. 


BY  LAND  AND  SEA. 


Let  it  be  supposed  that  one  chooses  spots  to  visit,  starting 
from  Douglas  (three  fourths  way  down  the  east  side  of  the 
island)  and  going  south  round  to  the  west  side,  up  the  west, 
round  the  north  and  down  the  east,  back  to  Douglas,  —  by 
laud,  partly  by  rail  or  carriage,  or  on  foot.  First  in  the  cir- 
cuitous route  comes  Port  Soderic,  a  rocky  cove,  approached 
by  a  glen  of  surpassing  beauty.  It  has  three  caves,  one  of 
which  extends  several  hundred  yards  underground.  These 
caves  are  said  to  have  been  much  used  by  smugglers  in  for- 
mer times.  Ferns  of  rare  species  grow  wild  by  the  side  of 
the  brook  which  runs  into  the  sea  at  Port  Greenock,  and 
there  is  an  ancient  barrow,  or  burying-ground,  on  the  cliffs 
above.  Castletown,  in  a  tine  bay  looking  south,  has  a  stone 
pier  '200  yards  long  and  possesses  a  celebrated  sun  dial, 
composed  of  a  ball  of  stone  with  thirteen  dial-faces  on  it, 
by  which,  it  is  said,  the  time  can  be  told  by  moonlight  as 
well  as  sunlight.  The  castle,  Castle  Eushen,  was  built  by 
the  Danes  in  the  tenth  century  and  rebuilt,  centuries  later, 
by  the  Normans.  The  kings  of  Man  used  the  castle  as  their 
royal  residence  for  many  years.  Its  walls  are  twelve  feet 
thick  at  the  base  and  several  feet  thick  at  the  top.  Its  towers 
stand  seventy-rive  feet  high,  at  each  angle,  and  in  the  south 
tower  is  a  clock,  presented  by  Queen  Elizabeth  in  1597. 
The  battlement  wall  is  twenty-five  feet  in  height,  nine  feet 
thick,  has  seven  square  towers  and  is  surrounded  by  the  re- 
mains of  a  moat.  The  castle  is  of  great  strength,  and,  in 
earlier  days,  was  often  besieged,  holding  out,  on  one  mem- 
orable occasion,  for  six  months  against  the  warrior  Robert 
Bruce.  Finally,  it  has  a  full  equipment  of  the  most  respect- 
able ghost  stories,  after  hearing  a  few  of  which  the  visitor 
does  not  want  to  stop  there  alone  all  night.  Port  St.  Mary 
is  stowed  away  in  another  southern  bay,  It  is  a  fishing  vil- 
lage, with  a  small  harbor  and  a  fleet  of  nearly  100  fishing 


BY  LAND  AND  SEA. 


boats.  Geologically  speaking,  it  is  famed  for  its  black  mar- 
ble and  very  hard  stone.  1*011  Erin  lies  round  the  west  side 
of  the  southernmost  point  of  the  island  (off  which  point  lies 
the  islet  called  the  Calf  of  Man.)  Port  Erin,  only  an  hour 
by  rail  from  Douglas,  has  a  beautiful  bay  and  beach,  with  a 
low  water  lauding  pier  310  feet  long.  At  the  head  of  the 
bay  is  St.  Catherine's  well,  whose  water  has  medicinal  prop- 
erties, and  at  the  north  end  of  the  bay  is  Brada  Head,  a 
promontory  of  500  feet  perpendicular  height,  on  which  is  a 
tower, and  the  view  thence  is  splendid.  Port  Erin's  in- 
dustry is  the  Brada  copper  mines.  Peel  is  situated  nearly 
half  way  up  the  west  side  of  the  island.  It  is  the  main  point 
of  the  herring  fishery  of  the  Isle  of  Man,  and  has  a  fleet  of 
about  200  boats,  manned  by  about  2,001)  fishermen.  In  ref- 
erence to  the  herring,  a  rare  book  about  the  Isle  of  Man, 
published  nearly  a  century  ago  by  one  John  Feltham,  says 
that  "herrings  are  killed  with  very  small  degree  of  violence 
When  taken  out  of  the  water  this  tish  gives  a  small  squeak 
and  instantly  expires,  and,  thougb  immediately  thrown  back, 
it  never  recovers.  Hence  the  proverb  :  'As  dead  as  a  her- 
ring'." Peel  has  a  quay  and  a  jetty  1,200  feet  long,  with  a 
lighthouse  at  the  end.  In  the  market  place  is  a  nice  old 
church,  in  which  is  a  handsome  stained -glass  window.  But 
Peel  Castle  is  the  lion  of  the  place.  It  occupies  a  big  slaty 
rock,  called  St.  Patrick's  Isle,  at  the  mouth  of  the  harbor. 
The  rock  is  about  seven  acres  in  area  at  the  water  base,  and 
four  or  lire  acres  at  the  top.  On  it  are  the  ruins  of  what  was 
once  a  tine  cathedral,  and  a  fortress  with  a  round  tower  in 
its  centre,  older,  some  say,  than  the  time  of  the  Phoeni- 
cians. This  vast  pile  has  dungeons  worth  a  shuddering  in- 
spection, and  of  course  is  haunted  by  the  spectres  of  the 
cruelly  tortured  dead  of  various  ages.  The  old  well  of  the 
castle,  after  being  choked  up  for  the  last  two  centuries,  has 


BY  LAND  AM)  SKA. 


been  cleared  out,  and  it  is  a  matter  of  ceremony  with  visit- 
ors to  drink  a  goblet  of  water  from  the  source  at  which  the 
ancients  quenched  their  thirst.  Runic  associations,  pure 
and  simple,  abound  on  this  venerable  rock,  and  we  have  the 
word  of  the  weird  historian,  Waldron,  (1744)  that,  among  tin- 
epitaphs  and  inscriptions  upon  the  worn  stones  of  the  cathe- 
dral, "you  may  easily  perceive  fragments  of  Hebrew,  Latin, 
Greek,  Arabian.  Scotch  and  Irish  characters,  some  of  whose 
dates,  yet  visible,  declare  they  were  written  before  the  coming 
of  Christ,  the  various  languages  testifying  by  what  diversity 
of  nations  this  little  spot  of  earth  has  been  possessed.''  How- 
ever this  may  be,  it  is  plain  that  these  aud  many  other  relics  of 
man's  handiwork  in  the  Isle  of  Man  are  pre-historic,  and  the 
succession  of  different  nationalities  upon  tie  land  evidently 
effectually  destroyed  reliable  tradition  such  as  would  almost 
certainly  have  been  available  had  the  succession  been  of  a 
more  hereditary  nature.  It  is  plain  that  one  must  use  judg- 
ment in  forming  a  belief  about  antiquities  like  these.  The 
void  caused  by  the  lack  of  authentic  tradition  was  comforta- 
bly rilled,  centuries  ago,  with  fairy  tales  and  superstitious, 
since  reduced  to  writing  and  published  at  different  dates,  by 
different  writers.  Xear  the  walls  of  Peel  Castle  is  a  green 
mound,  ninety  feet  in  length  and  rive  in  width.  It  is  called 
"The  Giant's  Grave."  One  smiles  at  the  thought  of  what  a 
long,  thin  chap  he  must  have  been.  He  had  three  legs, 
"with  which  he  used  to  spring  and  hop.  from  mountain  top  to 
mountain  top,"  aud  one  of  his  playful  habits  was  to  fling 
tons  of  rock  about  like  pebbles  It  is  not  recorded  that 
Mark  Twain  ever  saw  this  grave  and  heard  this  legend,  but 
he  would  have  enjoyed  it  and  scores  of  other  Manx  legends. 
had  he  encountered  them  when  "abroad. "  Peel  is  well 
worth  seeing,  even  if  the  visitor's  ambition  is  satisfied  by 
admiring  its  valuable  educational  endowments  in  the  matter 


58  BY  LAND  AND  SEA. 


of  good  schools,  or  in  searching  for  gray  carnelian,  agate  and 
jasper  along  its  beach,  and  casting  an  inquisitive  passing 
glance  at  the  groups  of  caves  in  the  old  red  sandstone  cliffs. 
A  few  mites  farther  np  the  west  side  of  the  island  is  Kirk 
Michael,  a  village  with  a  good  beach  not  far  off.  There  are 
Runic  monuments  at  this  place  which  puzzle  all  antiquarians. 
Bishop  (Thomas)  Wilson  lies  buried  here.  He  was  Bish- 
op of  the  Isle  of  Man  fifty-eight  years,  was  born  just  after 
the  restoration  of  the  Stuarts  and  died,  aged  ninety-three 
years,  128  years  ago,  when  George  II.  was  king.  The  epis- 
copal residence.  Bishop's  Court,  is  near  Kirk  Michael,  and 
there  are  numerous  fine  mansions  in  the  vicinity. 

We  will  now  pass  on  to  the  extreme  northern  limit  of  the 
island,  the  Point  of  Ayre,  where  a  stone  lighthouse  rises  1(50 
feet  above  the  sea  level,  its  well  known  revolving  light  warn- 
ing the  mariner  of  the  dangerous  coast  where  the  tides  run- 
ning along  each  side  of  the  island  meet.  Turning  down  the 
east  side  of  the  land,  one  travels  some  ten  miles  or  so  to 
Ramsey,  the  "northern  port,"  into  whose  lovely  hay  extends 
a  pier.  131  yards  long  by  15  feet  wide.  Ramsey  has  a  prom- 
enade (of  the  concrete  stone,  which  resembles  a  sort  of  dull 
gray  granite)  730  yards  long  and  12  feet  wide,  with  a  sea 
wall  shoulder  high.  The  harbor  is  the  mouth  of  the  Sulby 
river  and  steamers  ply  between  it  and  British  ports,  as  well 
as  it  having  a  good  local  shipping  trade.  The  town  has  a 
Court  house,  a  market  place  and  the  usual  list  of  churches 
and  chapels.  Its  population  is  about  4.500.  The  sea  fish- 
ing is  as  good  here  sis  anywhere  round  the  island  and  the 
yield  of  salmon,  mackerel,  whiting,  cod,  conger-eels  and 
other  big  fish  is  plenteous.  Ramsey  also  takes  pride  in  a 
handsome  tower  on  the  top  of  a  lofty  hill  near  the  town. 
Laxey,  located  on  its  bay  half  way  down  the  east  side  of  the 
island,  is  famous   for  its  lead  mines  and  the  largest  water 


BY  LAXD  AND  SEA.  59 

wheel  in  the  world.  The  wheel  is  72  feet  in  diameter,  226 
feet  in  circumference,  6  feet  in  thickness  and  contains  188 
buckets  and  48  spokes.  The  balance  at  the  wheel  shaft 
weighs  10  tons  and  the  top  balance  7  tons.  The  wheel  is  of 
200  horse-power  and  will  pump  water  from  a  depth  of  400 
yards  at  the  rate  of  250  gallons  per  minute.  It  was  made  by 
a  Mr.  Casement,  a  native  of  the  Isle  of  Man.  A  gallery 
above  it  is  reached  by  a  stairway  of  95  steps,  winding  round 
a  circular  white  pillar,  through  which  the  water  (brought  in 
pipes  from  reservoirs  in  the  mountains)  ascends.  Laxey  has 
a  quay,  a  "medicinal"  well,  an  old  "Roman  bridge,  and  the 
reputed  grave  of  the  old  Scandinavian,  King  Orry,  is  half  a 
mile  from  it.  Trudging  down  the  road,  through  the  pleas- 
ant little  village  of  Onchan,  one  gets  back  to  Douglas  from 
one's  circuit. 

The  many  attractions  of  the  interior  of  the  island  again 
necessitate  a  selection.  Glen  Darragh  has  an  old  stone  cir- 
cle and  St.  Patrick's  chair:  five  upright  slabs  of  blue  slate, 
with  uncipherable  inscriptions.  By  the  old  ruin  of  St.  Trin- 
ian's  church  is  a  "round  meadow"  of  goblin  memory.  The 
land  round  is  the  "Curraghglass, "  a  gray  bog  of  peat  beds,  in 
which  have  been  found  remains  of  old  Irish  oak.  Down  the 
side  of  an  adjacent  mountain,  persons  accused  of  witch- 
craft used  to  be  rolled  in  barrels  pierced  with  spikes.  If  it 
killed  them,  they  were  innocent.  If  it  didn't,  they  were 
guilty  and  the  people  finished  them  off  forth  with.  TheTyn- 
wald  Hill  (mentioned  in  the  last  letter)  is  the  curious  an- 
cient mound  from  which  the  laws  of  this  home-rule  island 
are  promulgated  in  the  Manx  and  English  languages.  Fox- 
dale  is  a  leadmining  place,  near  Granite  Mount.  The  Ham- 
ilton Waterfall  is  a  happy  relief  to  a  wild  region  of  granite. 
Ballasalla  is  a  village  amid  romantic  scenery.  Near  it  is  the 
ruin  of  Rushen  Abbey,  an  old  Cistercian  monastery.     Span- 


f,!l 


BY  LAXD  AXD   SKA. 


ning  the  Santon-burn.  at  Ballalonney.  is  what  is  known  as 
"the  Fairies'  bridge."  It  is  picturesque,  as  is  also  the 
Crossag.  or  •Monks'  bridge."  higher  up  the  bum.  Kirk 
Malew  is  an  interesting  little  old  church.  Mount  Strange 
is  the  old  place  of  public  execution.  The  College  of  King 
William,  an  ini]  Ttant  institution  near  here,  his  eight 
-  'h  1  ir<hi]  >  an  i  exhibiti  ms  t  i  Oxford.  Cambridge  \nd  Dub- 
lin. The  Rhenass  Waterfall  is  at  Glen  Helen,  where  the 
stream  is  crossed  by  i  little  iron  suspension  bridge.  The 
banks  of  the  stream  are  covered  by  wild  rlowers  md  ferns. 
The  small  hamlet  of  Birregirrow  is  where  John  Wesley 
pre  t  'he  i.  m  1  ni  ■-■  little  pla  -e  of  worship  mirk-  the  spot. 
Glen  Wyllin.  a  thickly  planted  valley  with  enticin-!  rural 
i  ithways.  has   two   sparkling   waterfalls:    Si  oo^t    Vane     md 

Ballaskyr.     Near  Ballaugh  is   al    >g.    from    which  have  1 n 

dug  large  trunks  of  bog  uak,  black  and  bird  as  eb  >ny,  sever- 
al stone  axes  and  the  skeleton  of  a  gigantic  Irish  elk.  A 
Runic  i  --  is  t  :  seen  in  the  dd  churchyard.  In  the  en- 
trance to  Suiby  Glen  the  river  Sulby  is  beloved  of  riytish- 
ers  :-  a  sinful  ir  mass  i  <t  n  >ek  e  die  1  "the  Hill  i  >f  the  Sh  im  - 
ro  'k  "  This  glen  is  en  dosed  by  lofty  mountain  ridges  with 
pr  trading  masses  of  granite.  -  une  slate  quarries  occupying 
its  left  side  and  trees  clustering  on  its  bank- all  alongtbe 
sides  of  the  river's  torrent.  At  Lezayre.  there  is  an  ivy. 
gi  wn  'hurch.  beautifully  situated  among  walnut  and  other 
trees.  There  i-  a  pretty  waterfall  in  Ballnre  Glen,  fringed 
with  wild  flowers  an  1  overhanging  trees.  Jurby  village  af  - 
fords  an  ther  sample  of  Runic  relics.  Kirk  Bride  and  St. 
Maughold  do  likewise,  and  at  Kirk  Andreas  are  some  quaint 
funereal  urns.  The  river  Renna  flows  beneath  abundant 
sh  i  le  thn  ugh  B  ill  igl  iss  I  den.  with  i  sprightly  waterfall  on 
its  way.  and  there  is  a  st  ne  ircle  dose  at  hand.  One  of 
the    prettiest    rustic    bridges    in    the     island    is    the     one 


BY  LAND  AND  SEA.  H\ 

over  the   Dhoon    river  at  Dhoon    Falls  and  the  well  wood- 
ed plantation  at  the  head  of   this  glen  finishes   off  a  pretty 

picture. 

Another  delightful  way  of  seeing  the  Isle  of  Man  is  to 
voyage  round  it  in  a  steamboat,  the  course  steered  making  a 
circuit  of  ninety  miles.  Thus  one  can  best  obtain  an  i  lea 
of  the  rugged  outline  of  the  coast.  Th-  route  is  as  given  in 
the  land  circuit:  Past  Douglas  Head.  Port  Soderic  and 
Derbyhaven.  This  latter  i-  a  fishing  village.  Its  cliffs  are 
of  gr^at  height  and  there  are  caves  and   i  hes  in 

them.  Pa-t  the  dangerous  reef  off  the  point  of  the 
peninsula  of  Langness.  across  Castletown  Pay  and  past 
its  further  promontory,  a  black  pile  of  basalt  known  as  "the 
Stack  of  Scarlet :"'  past  Spanish  Head,  where  innumerable 
sea  birds  flock  out  from  the  enormous  perpendiculai  cliff 
and  the  vast  charms  into  which  this  mass  of  blue  Silurian 
stone  is  rent:  past  the  Sugar  Loaf  rock  and  the  fine  gi  tt 
adjacent,  round  the  Calf  of  Man  and  two  great  rocks  called 
Barrough  and  Stack,  and  so  on.  round  all  the  points,  hea  Is. 
and  bays,  not  omitting  a  notice  of  the  head-land  of  Glen 
lleay,  three  miles  from  Peel  and  nearly  three  from  the 
Niarbyl  Point,  whose  cliffs.  l.oUO  feet  high,  contain  caves. — 
Glen  Meay  itself  being  renowned  for  its  lively  waterfall  and 
rare  fern-.  So,  from  the  steamer's  deck,  the  whole  island 
is  gradually  outlined,  one  meal  is  taken  on  board  during  the 
trip,  and  Douglas  harbor  is  again  reached  in  due  course. 

After  putting  these  things  into  this  condensed  form,  it  is  a 
grateful  obligation  to  acknowledge  the  valuable  aid  received 
in  so  doing  from  Messrs.  Ward  A:  Lock's  "Isle  of  Man,'  a 
handsome-  and  able  new  work  of  144  pages. 


C-2  HY  LA XI)  AXD  SKA. 


X. 

"A  BE-YEW-TIFUL  PLACE." — MICH  MUSIC  WHEN  THE 
HANDS  PLAY  AND  PROCESSIONS  MARCH— GUYING  THE 
DUDE — A  PANORAMA  OF  PLEASURE- SEEKERS  —  SOME 
CHARACTERS. 

Douglas,  Isle  of  Man,  Aug.  •2~>. 
It  is  not  even-  one  who  comes  to  Douglas  who  is  able  to 
enjoy  its  delights  and  those  numerous  attractions  in  other 
parts  of  the  island  as  well.  Most  people  have  not  time  for 
all,  but  it  is  remarkable  the  amount  of  sight-seeing  which 
some  can  crowd  into  a  visit  of  a  very  few  days.  The  cham- 
pion tourist  of  all.  however,  was  here  last  week.  It  will. 
perhaps,  surprise  the  reader  to  learn  that  he  was  not  a  young 
man.  with  a  temperament  full  of  life  and  energy.  On  the 
contrary,  he  was  elderly,  indolent,  obese,  and  looked  , is  if 
he  was  aware  that  a  liver  was  part  of  his  internal  outfit.  lie 
landed  at  the  Victoria  pier,  went  to  one  of  the  numerous 
boarding  houses  close  at  hand  and  stayed  there  two  days. 
never  stirring  from  it,  except,  immediately  on  his  arrival,  to 
go  and  buy  one  of  the  many  guide-books  to  the  island.  With 
this  little  volume  in  hand  and  spectacles  on  nose,  he  put 
in  his  time  on  a  chair  on  the  porch.  Following  the  text  with 
one  fat  forefinger,  he  took  in  the  whole  territory,  its  history 
and  charms.  It  was  at  about  4  p.  M.  on  the  first  day  that  he 
was  overheard  to  murmur,  with  a  dee])  sigh  of  pleasure:  "It's 
a  bewtiful  place!"  At  11  a.  m.  on  the  second  day.  there  es 
caped  him.  in  low  tones:  "It's  a  be-e-wtiful  place!"  And 
again,  as  he  closed  the  book  at  ■">  i\  m  :  "It's  a  be-vew-tiful 


BY  LAND  AND  SEA.  63 


place!  I  shall  have  a  lot  to  tell  'era  when  I  get  back!"  The 
roaring  hum  of  the  densely  crowded  promenade  had  not  dis- 
turbed him.  Italian  minstrel  girls  had  displayed  their  rustic 
richness  of  complexion  and  gay -colored  dresses  before  him, 
and  thumped  their  jingling  tambourines  under  his  very 
nose;  barrel  organs,  piano  organs,  string  musicians  with  and 
without  vocalists,  solo  cornet  performers  and  whole  brass 
bands  had  let  themselves  off  before  him.  Even  a  wretched 
old  couple  of  impostors,  who  have  been  here  the  whole  sea- 
son, wandering  regular  beats  arm-in-arm  along  the  streets, 
uttering  quavering  and  discordant  yells:  even  this  old  pair  of 
humbugs,  before  the  sound  of  whose  approach  crowds 
would  break  as  if  a  wave  had  struck  them,  did  not  cause  him 
to  turn  one  single  step  aside  from  his  glorious  flying  trip. 
He  had  come  to  see  the  island  and  was  too  busy  to  attend  to 
anything  else. 

There  have  been,  during  the  last  few  weeks,  several 
demonstrations  of  a  festival  nature  in  Douglas.  The  chief 
of  these  have  been  by  the  Temperance  Societies  and  the 
Orders  of  Odd  Fellows  and  Foresters.  A  lodge  or  two  of 
English  organizations  come  over  in  steamers  on  these  occa- 
sions and  unite  with  the  Manx  organizations,  making  a 
grand  display  and  marching  miles  along  the  sinuous  roads 
which  terrace  and  approach  the  steep  sloping  site  of  the 
town.  A  special  feature  with  each  body  is  the  accompani- 
ment of  a  junior  organization,  the  youths  of  which  are  as 
gaily  attired  as  their  elders.  And,  on  each  occasion,  there 
have  been  three  or  four  powerful  brass  bands  sandwiched  in 
the  procession.  A  good  brass  band  is  a  very  nice  thing  in 
its  way,  but,  when  four  are  in  full  blast  at  the  same  moment, 
variously  giving  the  breeze  the  full  benefit  of  "Rule  Britan- 
nia,"' "The  Death  of  Nelson,''  "The  Eoast  Beef  of  Old  Eng- 
land" and  "The  Anchor's  Weighed,"  the  effectis  mostawaken- 


fi4  B  V  LAND  AND  SKA  . 

ing.  There  is  not  only  too  much  meat  in  the  musical 
sandwich,  but  it  is  too  much  of  the  same  sort,  unsuitably 
blended:  boiled,  fried,  roast  and  dried,  all  in  the  same 
mouthful. 

There  have  also  been  here,  at  times  during  the  season, 
samples  of  the  Dude.  Douglas  is  a  ''popular"  watering 
place,  its  majority  of  visitors  being  of  the  broad  dialectic 
classes  of  the  manufacturing  districts.  The  minority  visi- 
tors are  mostly  those  quiet,  unobtrusive  people  whose  pro- 
nunciation of  English  is  of  English  purity,  always  aspirating 
the  letter  "h"  softly,  but  distinctly  in  its  proper  place.  The 
honest  dialectics,  or.  to  put  it  more  cogently,  the  dialectics 
honestly,  ignore  that  letter  and,  generally  speaking,  do  not 
even  use  it  out  of  place.  The  truly  offensive,  because  dis- 
honest, pronunciation,  is  such  as  the  Dude  exemplifies.  The 
mincing  enunciation  of  his  little  flutterings  of  conceit — 
thought  starved  and  stunted  in  conception — the  affectation 
of  ultra-purity  conveyed  by  his  narrow  accentuation  (despite 
the  drawling  breadth  that  will  creep  in  here  and  there  t  and 
the  slang  of  his  school  combine  to  make  him  a  small  mon- 
ster of  vulgarity.  Then  look  at  him!  A  hat  far  back  on  his 
head,  a  collar  like  a  broad  shirt-cuff  bandaged  around  his 
neck,  clothes  tight  and  scanty,  as  if  made  for  him  when  he 
was  smaller:  agonizing  boots,  cuffs  and  necktie,  a  cane 
which  he  never  can  carry  without  making  some  one  swear 
through  tortures  inflicted  by  its  point  or  handle,  an  eye  glass 
screwed  in  between  where  men  usually  have  a  cheek  bone 
and  brow,  his  chin  protruded,  his  elbows  bowed  out,  an  ap- 
pearance of  one  of  his  legs  not  being  used  to  walking  out  with 
the  other. and  a  general  air  of  undoubted  superiority.  That's 
what  you  see  when  you  look,  and,  when  you  see  it,  you  re- 
gard a  being  who,  had  he  brains  enough,  would  be  a  "prig." 
of  the  "hi'diah  culchah"  species,  and  who,   had  he  no  inci- 


BY  LAXD  AND  SKA.  65 

dental  means  of  support  as  such,  would  probably  never  be 
known  to  exist.  Fortunately  he  is  few.  The  way  the  mis- 
chievous spirits  among  the  broad  dialectic  young  men  guy 
him,  to  his  very  face,  is  delicious,  and  should  be  conceded 
as  an  argument  for  his  continuance.  They  feel  no  scorn  for 
him  as  a  degradation  of  good  mannerism.  Like  the  child 
at  the  Belle  Vue  Gardens,  who  bawled:  "Eh,  moother  cooni 
an'  see  this  'ere  moonkey.  vri'eaut  a  tail!"  they  regard  him  as 
provided  for  their  especial  delectation,  and  doubtless  love 
him.  They  will  strut  before  him,  exactly  imitating  his  gait 
and  gestures,  admiring  friends  assisting  in  the  performance 
and  miking  loud  expressions  of  grief  at  being  no  longer  good 
enough  to  keep  company  with,  whereon  the  mimics  will, 
with  relenting  condescension,  drop  them  a  few  crumbs  of 
comfort  with  a  good  deal  of  "Don't-sha-kueow"  and  "Old 
chappie"  interlarded  with  explanations  that  they  are  now 
upon  the  top-most  branch  of  the  world's  tree  and  cannot 
reasonably  be  expected  to  be  grubbing  around  its  roots  at 
the  same  time.  Then  one  of  the  caricatured  Dudes  (they 
always  seem  to  walk  in  couples)  will  say  to  his  leash  com- 
panion: "Vulgah  fellahs,  those."  the  other  will  look  unutter- 
able disgust,  and  the  mimics  will  subside,  winking  at  each 
other  with  a  gravity  indescribably  comic  and  suggesting  that 
the  spirit  of  Sam  Weller  was  not  wholly  a  fiction,  whatever 
his  personality  might  be. 

What  a  sight  it  is  to  stand  and  see  these  fluctuating 
thousands  and  thousands  of  holiday  makers.  Here  a  worn- 
looking,  preoccupied  man.  unable  as  yet  to  enjoy  his  leisure; 
next  a  girl  whose  eyes  and  figure  fairly  dance  with  delight, 
as  some  youth  is  handing  her  to  a  boat  on  one  side  of  the 
promenade  or  a  carriage  on  the  other;  jovial-looking  people 
who  seem  as  yet  not  to  have  picked  up  friends,  persons  of 
all  ages  doing  the  grand  in  their  Sunday  clothes  and  keeping 


ttfi  BY  LAND  AXD  SEA. 


up,  for  sake  of  the  effect  upon  the  world,  the  illusion  that 
their  dress  and  gracious  manners. are  those  they  are  always 
accustomed  to  display  to  each  other  on  a  week-day  at  home. 
They  are  happy/  It  is  their  way  of  enjoyment,  this  of  mak- 
ing their  holiday  an  idle  parade  of  playing  at  an  existence 
forbidden  to  their  hard  lines  of  toil  the  rest  of  the  year 
round,  and  it  must  he  a  hitter  cynic  who  would  deride  them. 
And  so  the  throng  passes,  some  to  re-pass  and  others  to  go 
on  elsewhere:  all  sorts  of  physical  presentments  and  tem- 
peraments, really  alike  in  nothing,  except  in  the  having 
nothing  to  do  but  pass  the  time  as  best  they  like  and  can. 

Of  course  such  a  mass  of  humanity  as  congregates  on  this 
promenade  must  have  its  nuisances.  These  are  two  in 
especial:  the  baby  carriage  propeller  and  the  walking-stick 
whirler.  All  others  are  dwarfed  by  these.  It  is  entirely  im- 
possible for  an  unprejudiced  person  not  to  admire  the  way 
in  which  the  nurse -maid  engineers  a  perambulator  through 
the  crowd,  twice  as  fast  as  the  crowd  itself  is  moving.  Her 
progress  is  not  aided  by  skilful  steering  or  polite  entreaty 
for  permission  to  pass.  One  half  the  crowd,  goiugin  one  direc- 
tion, keeps  to  the  right  of  the  smooth,  granite-like,  concrete 
walk  (nine  paces  wide'.  The  other  half,  going  in  the  oppo- 
site direction,  keeps  tothe  left,  tin-  elbows  of  the  two  streams 
brushing  against  each  other  along  the  imaginary  centre-line. 
Thf  nurse-maid,  with  consummate  judgment,  pushes  her  per- 
ambulator along  the  centre-line,  keeping  her  face  turned 
over  her  shoulder  all  the  tune,  as  she  gazes  at  the  ribbons 
and  trimmings  on  passing  bonnets  and  forms  her  opinion 
upon  feminine  dress  and  masculine  accompaniments  in  gen- 
eral. Thus  she  goes  as  she  pleases,  for  the  people  ahead  of 
her  perambulator,  going  the  same  way.  see  and  rightly  in- 
terpret the  alarm  depicted  on  the  countenances  of  those  who 
are  about  to  meet  the  approaching  vehicle-  of  terror.     A  per- 


BY  LAND  AND  SKA. 


ambulator,  pushed  by  a  nurse-timid  who  is  staring  all  over 
creation,  is  coming!  Out  of  the  way!  And  out  of  the  way 
it  is.  The  wheels  of  the  perambulator  rub  against  the  skirts 
of  the  lines  of  sauntering  femininity,  and  the  autocratic  baby 
pews  drowsily  from  its  carriage,  with  an  air  of  indolent  tol- 
eration. A  story  is  told  of  one  of  these  perambulators  once 
taking  a  long-legged  man  unawares  by  coming  full  force 
against  the  back  of  his  knees.  He  sat  down,  as  if  shot,  and 
the  details  are  horrible.  But  perhaps  it  is  only  a  story.  And, 
even  if  it  were  true,  are  nurse-maids  so  low  in  the  scale  of 
locomotive  machinery  that  they  must  not  be  allowed  to  fur- 
nish one  little  item  in  statistics  of  casualties? 

The  cane-whirler  is  usually  a  callow  youth  of  seventeen  or 
more  green,  green  Springs.  He  puts  his  legs  too  far  through 
his  trousers,  and  does  not  know  where  to  put  his  feet.  He 
seems  aware  that  he  cannot  overcome  this  latter  infirmity  and 
makes  no  attempt.  His  hands  come  naturally  in  the  same 
category,  but  art  has  relieved  them  of  the  position  of  incum- 
brances. In  his  left  hand  he  holds  a  cigar,  the  ash  of  which 
he  critically  inspects  after  a  series  of  whiffs,  as  if  he  hoped  to 
find  it  turning  into  a  real  Havana,  or  a  good  meerschaum 
pipe.  In  his  right  hand  is  a  walking  stick,  always  with  a 
rectangular  handle.  As  he  sprawls  along,  he  is  observed 
to  give  the  stick  a  few  occasional  slow  whirls,  the  handle  in 
his  hand  being  the  axis  and  the  point  of  the  stick  describing 
the  periphery  of  the  revolution.  Presently,  his  hand  gets 
well  into  its  work,  he  pulls  with  some  excitement  at  his  cigar, 
slackens  his  pace,  and  finally  comes  to  a  pause  in  order  to 
be  able  to  curl  up  one  leg.  as  he  whirls  the  stick  round  with 
a  swishing  sound  and  the  velocity  of  a  spoke  in  a  fast  driven 
wheel.  The  expression  on  his  face  is  pure  bliss.  "Ah,  this 
is  coining  to  th'  Isle  o'  Man,  this  is!"  And  nobody  seems  to 
think  that  he  or  the  nurse  girl  ought  to  be  sat  down  upon, 


08 


BY  LAND  AXD  SEA. 


the  feeling  being  simply  one  of  well  satisfied  congratulation 

at  personal  escape  from  a  threatened  injury  of  an  unavoida- 
ble nature. 

As  may  be  supposed,  an  immense  patronage  is  bestowed 
upon  the  boats,  tramcars,  railway  and  excursion  carriages. 
Time  was  when  all  the  carriages  for  hire  were  jaunting  cars, 
back-to-back  vehicles,  the  passengers  sitting  sideways,  fac- 
ing each  side  of  the  road.  These  have  been  superseded  by 
the  use  of  sociables,  which  carry  a  great  many  more  people 
per  carriage.  The  passengers  also  sit  laterally  in  sociables, 
but  face  to-face  and  with  their  backs  to  the  sides  of  the 
roads.  A  few  jaunting  cars  remain  in  the  possession  of 
prisons  of  means  living  outside  of  town.  One  of  these  came 
in.  a  day  or  two  since,  and  a  number  of  visitors  of  the  gaping 
order  regarded  it  with  curiosity.  It  was.  however,  quite  a 
matter  of  excitement  to  one.  He  was  a  Lancashire  lad.  about 
sixty  years  old.  and  had  with  him  his  decent-looking  silver- 
haired  lass.  "Sithee!"  (See  thee,  or  see  thou.)  "Sithee, 
Jane!"  he  exclaimed.  "Sithee!  Yon's  one  o'  th'  owd  jaunt- 
ing cars!  Aw  loike  'em  a  deal  better  nor  these  'ere  new  so  nt, 
wheel'  yo'  sit  wi' all  yo're  toes  boouched  together  i'  th'  bottom 
an'  sta-arin'  each  oother  eaut  o'  fa-ace!"  A  frequent  way  of 
loading  passengers  for  an  excursion  to  Peel.  Castletown, 
Laxey,  Ramsey,  or  elsewhere,  is  for  the  sociable  driver  to 
"tout"  all  passers-by:  "Now  for  Ramsey!  One  more  gen- 
tleman wanted  to  make  up  the  party  for  Ramsey,"  etc.  The 
new  comer  steps  up  behind  and  is  greeted  by  the  youths  of 
the  party  with  the  all-hail  shout:  "Hi!  Kelly!"  He  treads  on 
someone's  foot  ami.  upon  thus  provoking  an  estimate  of  his 
own  weight,  explains:  "It's  in  the  fam'ly."  Then  he  jabs  an 
elbow  into  the  mouth  of  another,  who.  with  polite  de- 
clination, says:  "Nay.  I'm  not  'avin'  any.  not  betwixt  break- 
fast an'  dinner  anv'ow."    At  last,  he  wedges  into  a  seat.  and. 


BY  LAND  AND  SEA.  69 

as  the  driver  whips  up,  the  "lads"  behind  him  burst  iuto  a 
popular  song,  the  chorus  of  which  is: 

"Oh,  wot  a  day  we're  'avin',  I  say! 
Oh,  wot  a  day  we're  'avin'! 
Oh,  wot  a  day  we're  'avin',  I  say! 
Oh,  wot  a  day  we're  'avin'!" 
If  the  visitor's  taste  is  for  a  more  refined  grade  of  fellow 
visitors  than  here  indicated,  he  should  go  to  Douglas  any 
time  from  the  middle  of  June  to  the  end  of  July.     August  is 
decidedly  "popular."     Many  from  a  vastly  different  social 
community  than  the  August  crowd  would,  however,  prefer 
that  month  as  affording  them  quite  a  new  act  and  new  dia 
logue  in  the  drama  played  upon  the  world's  stage  by  its  men 
and  women,  the   companies  of  which  differ  so  much  in  es- 
sentials and  merit  that  some  are  uncouth  in  the  rendering 
which  others  give  with  ease  and  finish.     Fortunately,  un- 
couthness  has  its  attractive  distinctions.     It  is  never  insip- 
id, and  a  humor  broad  and  deep,  with  a  pathos — the  genuine 
touch  of  human    nature — inimitably  simple  comes   readily 
from  it  to  an  attentive  audience  with  a  grain  of  sympathy  in 
its  heart. 


70  BY  LAND  AXJ)  SKA. 


XI. 

FAREWELL  TO  THE  ISLE  OF  MAN*  AND  RETURN  TO  ENG- 
LAND'S SHORES— SOME  ACCOUNT  OF  LYTHAM.  A  QUAINT 
OLD  SEASIDE  RESORT. 

Lytham.  England.  Sept   7. 

The  last  noteworthy  incident  at  Douglas,  Isle  of  Man.  was 
the  inauguration  of  a  new  life-boat  called  the  "Ann  and 
Mary,  of  Manchester,"  (Eng.l  built  by  the  national  life-boat 
organization,  which  is  supported  by  voluntary  contributions. 
The  boat  started  out  from  Douglas  for  its  station  at  Port 
Erin,  sixteen  miles  distant  by  road,  loaded  on  a  large  exten- 
sion wagon,  whose  wheels  were  of  that  vast  thickness  of  fel- 
loes sometimes  read  of  but  infrequently  met  with  in  these 
days.  The  wagon  was  drawn  by  eight  heavy  cart-horses. 
which  were  none  too  many  for  the  work,  for  there  was  not 
only  the  boat  to  draw,  bnt  also  its  crew  of  a  dozen  men.  On 
leaving  for  Port  Erin,  the  "Ann  and  Mary"  was  paraded 
along  the  road  skirting  the  promenade,  the  hardy -looking 
crew,  dressed  in  blue  and  wearing  red  skull-caps  with  tas- 
sels, sat  with  oars  poised,  and  a  brass  band  marched  behind, 
playing  some  tune  of  very  serious  sound,  supposed  to  be  (at 
a  rough  guess  and  in  default  of  better  information  i  sugges- 
gestive  of  dirty  weather  out  at  sea. 

Then  came  farewell  to  the  lovely  island  and  its  never  end- 
ing surprises  in  the  way  of  varied  scenery,  to  see  which  one 
has  hut  to  keep  moving  a  little  in  order  to  l>e  charmed  with 
fresh  views.     The  advantage  which  such  a  spot  has  over  a 


BY  LAXD  AX  I)  SKA.  71 


larger  islaud,  or  a  continent,  is  that  its  entirety  can,  compar- 
atively speaking,  be  taken  in  at  a  glance,  without  the  neces- 
sity of  having  to  travel  long  distances,  over  territory  more  or 
less  barren  of  interest,  to  'rret  from  place  to  place.  Indeed 
it  is  fair  to  say  that  there  is  no  part  of  the  Isle  of  Man  which 
does  not  remind  its  visitor  that  the  island  is  a  condensation 
of  beauty,  much  in  little,  a  landscape  in  model,  with  different 
sea-views  unexpectedly  appearing  in  any  and  every  direction. 
For  a  summer  change,  to  persons  long  resident  far  inland, 
such  variety  is  delightful.  Only  those  who  see  it  every  day 
of  their  lives  can  be  insensible  to  its  attractions,  and  that  on 
the  same  principle  that  would  cause  the  complexity  of 
beautiful  colors  and  symmetrical  forms  in  a  kaleidoscope  to 
pall  upon  the  eye  if  never  absent  from  its  gaze.  That  illus- 
tration is,  however,  imperfect,  for  there  are  many  people  to 
whom  the  beauties  of  nature  and  other  beauties  become 
more  endeared  by  their  very  permanence. 

The  return  trip  to  the  west  coast  of  England  was  not 
made  to  Liverpool,  but  to  Barrow,  a  port  due  east  of  the 
Isle  of  Han  and  having  an  important  ''pull"  over  Liverpool 
in  that  the  steamships  and  the  railway  meet  at  the  pier  and 
the  passenger's  baggage  is  handed  direct  from  the  boat  to  the 
train.  At  Liverpool  there  is  a  wide  difference.  The  land- 
ing is  made  on  a  floating  pier,  from  which  baggage  has  to  be 
conveyed  on  tin-  backs  of  porters  up  long  and  steep  inclined 
planes  to  a  hack,  or  other  carriage.  Then  there  is  a  lively 
rattle  over  the  stone-paved  streets  to  a  railway  station  and 
another  handling  of  the  baggage  there.  As  to  the  relative 
convenience  of  Barrow  and  Liverpool  as  railway  points,  that 
depends  on  where  you  want  to  go.  Barrow  is  but  a  few- 
miles  south  of  tin;  lake  district  and  is  also  very  handy  to  the 
extreme  north  of  England  and  Scotland.  For  points  between 
the  two  ports,  Barrow  is   about  as  convenient  as  Liverpool. 


72  BY  LAND  AND  SEA. 

To  persons  liable  to  sea-sickness  it  is  more  so,  the  trip  from 
Douglas  to  Barrow  being  at  least  an  hour  shorter  than  that 
to  Liverpool.  On  the  other  hand,  those  who  love  sea  voy- 
aging prefer  the  longer  passage,  and  the  approach  to  Liver- 
pool has,  as  may  be  understood  from  its  reputation  as  a 
great  port,  an  interest  lacking  in  the  comparatively  juvenile 
port  of  Barrow.  Travelling  down  the  much  indented  and 
sand-shored  coast  from  Barrow,  Morecambe  and  ancient 
Lancaster  are  passed.  Then  comes  Fleetwood,  whence 
steamers  run  to  Douglas  and  Belfast,  Ireland;  then  Black- 
pool, and  then,  opposite  each  other  on  the  banks  of  the 
broad  estuary  of  the  river  Kibble,  Lytham  and  Southport. 
Looking  a  little  south  of  west,  straight  across  the  Irish  sea 
from  this  point  to  Dublin,  or  say  Kingstown,  the  line  of 
sight  would  intersect  the  north  of  the  Isle  of  Anglesea 
(Wales),  half  way  between  the  Kibble's  mouth  and  Ireland. 
From  Southport,  the  coast  trends  outward  until,  taking  a  turn, 
it  enters  the  estuary  of  the  Mersey  and  shoots  round  behind 
the  long,  bottle-necked  harbor  of  Liverpool.  Blackpool, 
Lytham  and  Southport  have  all  made  their  names  as  well 
esteemed  places  of  seaside  resort,  but,  as  this  letter  is  dated 
from  Lytham,  it  may  be  as  well  to  single  it  out  from  the 
trio,  the  most  retired  of  which  it  is.  Some  facts  and  neces- 
sary figures  are  cordially  credited  to  Mr.  F.  J.  Harte,  of 
this  place. 

Lytham  is  understood  to  have  been  first  mentioned  in  the 
time  of  the  Normans,  it  being  alluded  to  in  the  Domesday 
Book  as  "Lidun."  In  the  time  of  Richard  I,  it  was  written 
hs  "Lythum."  For  the  last  two  centuries  it  has  been  a 
health  resort  for  a  select  class  of  visitors,  persons  of  aris- 
tocratic tastes,  and  has  never  laid  itself  out  to  draw  the 
masses.  Perhaps  it  has  always  recognized  that  this  was 
the  line  it    was  best   iitted  for,    and,    in    a    country    where 


BY  LAND  AND  SEA.  73 

prejudices  of  a  class  description  prevail  so  strongly  as  they 
do  in  England,  it  assumes  the  form  of  a  necessity  that 
there  must  be  separate  playgrounds  wherein  various  sec- 
tions of  the  community  can  feel  sure  of  herding  with  kin- 
dred society  only.  The  day  has  been,  but  is  now  past,  when 
radical  sarcasm  growled  at  such  a  state  of  affairs.  Its  last 
hour  sounded  when  some  one  of  forcible  wit  quietly  inquir- 
ed: "What  are  you  going  to  do  about  it?" — or  wrords  to  that 
effect.  When  a  stranger  is  told  that  the  main  attractions  of 
an  old  established  seaside  place  in  England  are  salt-water, 
sand,  a  promenade,  a  lawn,  a  pier,  and  lastly  (usually  men- 
tioned first)  an  unlimited  supply  of  "healthy,  pure,  invig- 
orating air,"  in  which  "have  been  displayed  the  fashions  of 
succeeding  centuries,"  he  knows  that  he  has,  at  any  rate, 
fouiid  a  spot  where  quiet  people  abound,  it  being  so  de- 
cidedly unsuited  to  those  who  like  to  take  their  sea-breezes 
with  the  spice  of  exciting  accessories.  Such  is  Lytham. 
much  loved  by  its  own  large  circle  of  friends,  folks 
with  plenty  of  children,  valetudinarians  and  elderly  persons 
to  whom  lively  pursuits  of  pleasure  are  distasteful.  It  is  of 
the  "far  from  the  madding  crowd"  order,  and,  if  the  night 
is  not  long  enough  for  sleep  within  the  precincts  of  its  5,309 
acres,  the  visitor  can  spin  out  his  slumber,  undisturbed, during 
the  day.  It  has  grown  old  so  slowly  as  to  still  seem  youth- 
ful. Decades  with  it  have  been  as  single  years  elsewhere 
and  its  grey  hairs  have  not  increased  in  number,  perceptibly, 
within  the  memory  of  man.  To  be  sure,  it  has  grown  in 
size  and  in  improvements  of  a  modestly  solid  nature,  too, 
but  the  growth  has  been  that  of  a  mature  person  who  may  be 
heard  spoken  of  as  "still  quite  young."  None  of  your  weedy 
shooting  up,  such  as  causes  the  arms  and  legs  of  garments 
to  testify  shortness,  but  a  decorous  increase  in  bulk  which 
increases  the  general  thickness  and  width,  and  fills  out  easy- 


74  BY  LA XL)  A XI)  SEA. 

fitting  clothing  to  an  appearance  of  well-fed  Kleekness.  Its 
vans  for  bathing  purposes  are  noticeably  spoken  of  as  "cm  m- 
fortable  four- wheel  machines."  But  they  are.  in  the  age  of 
Lytham.  comparatively  innovations.  According  to  Dr.  Hut- 
ton,  not  so  many  years  ago.  bathing  here  was  a  very  simple 
affair.  "Each  day.  at  the  height  of  the  tide,  a  bell  rang  as  a 
signal  for  every  male  person  to  retire  from  the  beach  and  its 
vicinity.  The  coast  being  clear,  one  fair  form  after  another 
stole  gently  down  to  the  water's  edge,  enveloped  in  a  cloak 
or  attended  by  a  maid  to  assist  her  in  unrobing  on  the  open 
beach.  From  the  edge  of  the  waves,  the  lady  passed  along 
a  rising  plank  projecting  into  the  sea.  from  which  she  boldly 
plunged  into  the  water.  Then,  resuming  her  dress,  she  re- 
tired to  her  lodgings.  The  bell  rang  a  second  time  and  the 
gentlemen  took  their  turn."  The  coy.  not  to  say  timid  ap- 
proach of  the  fair  nymph  to  the  purifying  and  bracing  ele- 
ment; her  bold  plunge,  while  the  maid  holds  her  shoes  and 
stockings  aloof  from  the  gritty  sand  in  admiring  attention: 
her  subsequent  immediate  nttirement  and  retirement,  follow- 
ed by  the  striking  of  the  hollow  metallic  implement  summon- 
ing the  coarser  sex  to  slop  about  in  the  ungraceful  manner 
<>f  men.  combine  to  form  a  series  of  mental  pictures  com- 
pared with  which  the  fascinations  of  a  magic  lantern  have. 
literally,  no  hold  upon  either  sentiment  or  imagination. 
Nowadays,  if  the  tide  does  not  happen  to  suit  its  time  to  the 
affairs  of  men.  even  the  "comfortable,  four-wheeled  ma- 
chines" are  no  temptation  to  an  immersion  deprived  by 
them  of  its  polite  "after-you-ma'am "  features,  and  both 
sexes  may  be  seen  going  to  the  public  swimming  baths,  the 
one  whereof  for  gentlemen  is  50x20  feet  in  area,  that  for  la- 
dies being,  possibly  in  deference  to  the  smaller  size  or  nu- 
merical needs  of  their  ]  edal  extremities,  only  30x15  feet. 
The  baths  and  the  public  assembly  room  form   a  fine  pile 


BY  LAND  AND  SEA.  75 


of  buildings,  situated  opposite  the  entrance  to  their  equally 
modern  brother,  the  pier,  the  latter  of  which  is  a  structure 
of  iron,  900  feet  long,  which  juts  to  the  water  from  the  cen- 
tral part  of  the  long  promenade  by  the  shore.  The  lawn. 
which  is  what  may  be  termed  a  "block"  in  width,  extends' 
the  whole  length  of  the  promenade,  and  that  is  that  of  the 
town,  or  rather  "village,"'  merging  into  a  region  of  docks  at 
its  upper  end  and  into  a  long  stretch  of  sandhills  at  its  lower, 
or  western,  termination.  It  is  a  territory  of  justifiable  pride 
to  Lytham  and  has,  dotted  aloiiL;  the  promenade  side  of  its 
length,  at  its  central  and  eastern  points,  an  "old  windmill, 
with  black  sails  and  painted  crown,"  a  life-boat  house  and  a 
custom  house  whose  architecture  is  that  of  a  square  tower. 
Lytham  is  one  of  the  principal  life-boat  stations  on  the  Lan- 
cashire coast,  and.  as  Mr.  Harte  truly  says:  "Many  a  gallant 
deed  has  been  done  and  many  a  life  saved  by  its  means.  A 
noble  work  is  done  by  these  boats  and  their  crews. "  The 
marine  terror  of  the  locality  is  an  immense  sand  bank,  call- 
ed the  Horse  Batik:  "Looking  out  seaward  at  low  tide,  the 
Horse  Bank  is  seen  stretching  its  dreary  length"  down  the 
estuary  of  the  Ribble,  and  "as  rich  as  the  Horse  Bank"  has 
passed  into  a  proverb  from  the  treasure  said  to  have  been 
lost  in  it  in  ships  in  former  times,  before  the  channel  was 
improved  and  buoyed.  As  regards  these  sand  hills,  Mr. 
Ilarte's  testimony  cannot  be  improved  upon:  "It  is  very 
pleasant  rambling  among  these  dells  and  star  hills.  The  air 
in  summer  is  scented  with  wild  flowers,  and  the  birds  fill  the 
air  with  sweet  music.  Lovers  of  botany  can  enjoy  to  the 
full  the  many  beautiful  specimens  of  vegetation  which  grow 
here  in  such  profusion."  Beyond,  two  miles  west  of  the 
promenade,  is  a  light-house,  from  whose  tower  is  thrown  an 
intermittent  light,  half  a  minute  dark  and  three  minutes  and 
a  half  light,   shining  a  distance  of  a  dozen  miles  out  at  sea. 


7^; 


BY  LAXD  AXD  SEA 


Lytham  is  the  oaly  port  l1  ng  this  se  ti  a  :"  ■  iast  and  ships 
and  steamers  often  run  into  it  in  rough  weather.  In  the  w  iv 
of  ship-building,  it  :  ;ri:~  int  small,  but  good,  fishing  ves- 
sels, md.  if  course,  his  i  small  deet  of  pleasure  b  'it-  for 
the  visiting  !an  lsman  to  settle  his  stomach  withal  and  other- 
wise enjoy  himself.  Steamers  ply  during  the  season  t  :> 
-  it  rt.  Blackpool.  Fleetwood.  Barrow,  and  one  or  two 
of  the  Welsh  and  Manx  ports  it  times,  inrl  there  ire  num  t- 
ous  nice  sr  •-  to  be  reached  from  Lyth.am  ou  foot,  or  in 
brief  j  nrneys  I  y  carriage  >r  railway,  in  the  course  i  f  me  ir 
two  of  whi  h  one  may  staa  1  U|  m  venerated  sites.  :: 
with  authentic  tales  f  bloody  struggles  of  ancient  Britons. 
Saxons.  Northmen,  and  ill  that  sort  of  persons  who  could 
u  t  irgue  and  had  never  hear!  of  arbitration.  Of  one 
drive,  from  Lythani  to  Poulton.  .  iistance  of  seven  miles. 
the  visitor  is  promised,  is  :he  reward  of  his  journey,  the 
sight  :  P<:  tit  m  "seven  sle  -r  v  streets  with  i  chui  :h  in  the 
centre  "  In  in  >ther.  f  ur  miles  fr  m  Lytham.  a  view  of 
the  disputed  "Portus"  of  Ptolemy.  In  another,  of  six 
miles,  the  identical  plv~  where  Paulinu*  i-  supposed  to 
reached  in  Sax  n  times.  And  so  >n  .11  round,  in- 
land, through  quiet  country  hr.es  and  risti  ■  solitudes  of 
old  fashioned  sav  i  md  especial  relish  to  th  -e  - ':.  »e  habits 
and  turn    >f  min  i  tit  them  to  ippre  date  sn  -h  still  -  ■   \  -~ 

Those  who  kn  >w  Lyth  lm  well  might  expe  t  -  'me  t  ■  •  innt 
herein  of  her  places  :  .v  .r~hip.  railway  facilities  h  t-ls  md 
i  Iging  h  'tises.  h  -;  ital.  m  irket  h  >use,  :  ul  '.:  :  -  jnare,  car- 
dens,  m  1  sn  h  ither  things  is  bell  t  ■  ■  nstitute  the  -  >li  li- 
ty  of  t  t:.-  in  general.  It  is  n  t  ne  ess^ry.  ':.  iwever.  t  1 
j..  i  -■  th  in  refer  :  ■  their  a  ?kn  )  ide  Ige  1  ex  ■ellen  •-  m  1  ":.-::- 
satisfactoriness  t     ill  concerned.     There  is    '  11  man- 

sion,  Lytham   Hall,   rebuilt     '     •■  -   i  century    igo.   but  it    is 
private  property  md  need  not  be  referred  to.  here,  farther 


BY  LAND  AND  SEA. 


than  to  say  that  the  living  branch  of  the  ancient  family  of 
Clifton,  owners  of  the  old  estate  of  which  it  is  the  home- 
stead, is  evidently  held  in  unfeigned  esteem  by  all  classes  of 
us  neighbors,  and  has  done  much  for  Lytham  itself. 

A  word  about  the  shopkeepers  of  Lytham.  particularly 
those  of  old-time  lineage  in  its  mercantile  rank,  may  not  be 
amiss  to  speak.  They  arc  remarkably  civil,  without  a  trace 
of  servility.  If  they  had  made  a  study  of  how  to  secure 
respect  to  themselves  by  their  behavior  to  those  with  whom 
their  business  brings  them  in  contact,  they  could  not  better 
gain  th-ir  end.  But  there  is  probably  a  great  deal  more  of 
traditional  manner  than  of  calculation  in  their  ways.  To 
representative-  of  that  vast  section  of  the  world  of  trade 
over  whose  tongue  run-  glib  saws,  such  as:  "Time  is 
money,"  "  Business  is  business."  and  even  "Civility  costs 
nothing."  -o  hiudi  a  degree  of  deferential  courtesy  over  a 
pound  of  butter  or  meat,  or  a  few  pence  worth  of  some  other 
::•  'essary,  has  a  naturally  good-humoring  effe  -t.  exalting  in 
self-esteem.  Pondering  over  this  ind  other  merits,  which. 
as  before  intimated,  have  made  .:.  i  do  sustain  so  large  a 
circle  of  friends  for  this  quaint  and  quiet  seaside  spot,  the 
visitor  can  betake  him--'.:'  r  i  -  >me  c  unf  tal  seat  r. 
the  beach,  hard  by  th-  _'.■  iming  «  iter  and  the  go!  len  -  m  i. 
watching  the  children  turning  up  the  yell  >w  gr  ::^<  and  mass- 
ing them  in  fancied  citadels  and  im  its  vith  tiny  -piles,  or 
searching  for  fresh  -hell-  or  pretty  pebbles  dong  the  last 
tide-line,  and  perhaps  a  thought  may  dit  across  his  mind 
that  men  and  women  who  love  Lytham  learned  to  do  so  as 
children,  as  their  forefathers  had  done.  If  this  solution 
satisfies  him.  then  he  is  at  liberty  to  bring  the  full  force  of 
his  intellect  upon  anything  or  nothing  else,  being  in  a  situ- 
ation conducive  to  eithei  extreme.  Or,  hi<  mmd  being 
readily   diverted  by  some    "busy   bee"  scudding  its  line  to 


7s  BY  LAND  AND  SEA. 

the  sand  hills,    he  may  full  to   murmuring  to  himself  Dr. 

Watts': 

"  How  skilfully  she  builds  her  cell  ! 
How  neat  she  spreads  her  wax  ! 
And  labors  hard  to  store  it  well 
With  the  sweet  food  she  makes!" 
— losing   himself   in  speculation    as    to    whether   the    good 
Doctor  made  "makes"  rhyme  by  pronouncing  it  "  max." 


BY  LAND  AND  SEA.  79 


XII. 

HOMEWARD  BOtND — THE  FIEST  VOYAGE  OF  THE  CITY  OF 
CHICAGO — THE  VESSEL  ADMIRABLY  TESTED  —  AN  IDEA 
OF    THE    LATEST    ADDITION    TO    THE    INMAN    LINE. 

Off  Sandy  Hook.  Sept.  2'J. 
The  trial  trip  of  the  new  Ionian  Line  steamer  City  of 
Chicago,  on  board  which  these  lines  are  written,  took  place 
on  the  12th  inst.,  a  large  number  of  ladies  and  gentlemen 
being  on  board,  having  joined  the  ship  at  Greenock  (Scot- 
lamb  on  the  invitation  of  the  builders.  "When  off  Skelmor- 
lie,  the  measured  mile  was-  run.  the  mean  speed  attained 
under  easy  circumstances  being  fifteen  knots.  At  lunch- 
eon, after  the  trip,  Mr.  Charles  Council,  the  builder,  pre- 
sided. Mr.  Ernest  Inman  occupying  the  vice-chair.  Mr. 
Birley,  Chairman  of  the  Board  of  Directors  of  the  Inman 
Steamship  Company,  whose  name  was  coupled  with  the 
toast '"Success  to  the  Chicago,''  said  (as  reported  by  the  Liv- 
erpool Mercury),  that  the  Chicago  was  not  built,  originally, 
for  them,  but  they  were  compelled  to  have  another  ship  at 
as  early  a  date  as  possible,  and  they  were  lucky  in  finding 
one  so  fine  and  suitable.  Many  alterations  had  been  made 
to  suit  the  requirements  of  trade,  and  these  had  been  most 
ably  carried  out  by  the  builder  and  engineers.  The  new- 
ship  would  compare  favorably  with  other  lines,  and,  although 
her  speed  would  not  rank  with  the  vessels  styled  "Grey- 
hounds of  the  Atlantic,"  yet  she  would  compare  fairly  well 
and  prove  an  excellent  carrier,  and   he  hoped  also  a  profit- 


Ml 


BY  LAXJ)  A XI)  SEA. 


able  ship  to  the  owners  and  a  credit  to  her  builders.  The 
other  toasts  given  were:  "  Success  to  the  Inman  Company," 
'"  The  Builders  and  Engineers."  and  '"  Captari  Leiteh.  the 
Commander."  who  stated  that  he  had  now  crossed  the  At- 
lantic over  5oii  times. 

The  Chicago  is  iW  feet  in  length  of  keel.  4">  feet  in  beam. 
nearly  :>4  feet  in  depth  of  hold,  and  is  of  5. "201  tons  burden. 
She  is  berthed  for  lot)  saloon  passengers,  loo  intermediate 
and  500  steerage,  with  lower  deck  capacity  for  increasing  the 
steerage  accommodation  to  1.000  with  comfort.  The  idea 
which  impresses  itself  on  the  passenger  is  that  she  is  a  lai'ge- 
bodied.  powerful  vessel,  constructed  to  bear  herself  stoutly 
in  the  heaviest  wind  and  water  She  is.  in  fact,  exception- 
ally strong  and  possesses  a  number  of  extras  beyond  the  re- 
tirements to  class  100  A  1  at  Lloyds;  is  divided  into  eight 
water-tight  compartments,  has  four  complete  decks  and  car- 
ries canvas  on  four  masts,  the  fore  and  main  masts  being 
square  rigged,  the  mizzen  and  jigger  carrying  trysails.  In 
proportion  to  the  number  of  passengers  carried,  the  Chicago 
has  the  rinest  promenade  decks  on  the  Atlantic:  the  bridge 
deck  for  saloon  passengers  and  the -par  deck  for  interme- 
diate and  steerage  promenade.  On  the  bridge  deck  are  the 
smoking  room,  chart  room  and  pilot  house,  in  which  lat- 
ter is  the  steam  steering  apparatus.  The  spar  deck  con- 
tains the  music  loom,  deck  state  rooms,  officers'  quarters, 
barber-shop,  etc.  The  grand  saloon,  corridors  of  state  rooms, 
both  first  cabin  and  intermediate,  and  intermediate  saloon. 
are  on  the  mam  deck,  on  which  are  also,  forward  and  aft. 
the  steerage  cabins.  A  grand  feature  in  the  steerage  accom- 
modation- i-  that  they  are  in  three  separate  parts  <>f  the  deck. 
divided  by  iron  bulk  heads:  one  large  compartment  for 
families,  one  for  single  women  and  one  for  single  men.  It 
may  properly  be  stated,  here,  that  a  more  well  behaved,  re- 


BY  LAXD  AXD  SEA.  Kl 

speetahle  ami  prosperous  looking  bunch  of  steerage  passen- 
gers than  came  out  on  the  first  trip  of  the  Chicago  it  would 
lie  difficult  to  imagine. 

In  the  matter  of  machinery,  the  ship's  propeller  is  driven 
by  compound  engines,  with  three  cylinders:  one  high  pres- 
sure, of)  inches:  the  two  others  being  low  pressure.  HO  inches 
each.  Their  nominal  horsepower  is  900,  their  effective 
power  being  -1,5(1(1.  The  engines  work  without  need  of  a 
governor  and  their  smoothness  and  silence  are  so  remarka- 
ble that  the  action  of  the  machinery  is  imperceptible  a  short 
distance  forward  of  them,  even  when  heavy  seas  bare  the 
screw  and  endeavor  to  produce  those  eccentric,  whirring 
gyrations  of  it  so  well  known  to  all  ocean  steamship  travel- 
lers. As  for  location,  the  engine  room  is  aft  of  the  grand 
saloon,  and  the  sleeping  cabins,  bath  rooms  and  lavatories 
are  situated  all  the  way  from  forward  to  aft  of  both.  Every 
part  of  the  ship,  down  to  the  very  stoke  hole,  is  brilliantly 
illuminated  with  the  Swan  incandescent  electric  light,  war- 
ranted to  burn  2.00(1  hours.  The  power  for  the  production 
of  the  light  is  furnished  by  two  engines,  one  of  which  runs 
the  entire  outfit  of  2G0  lamps,  the  other  being  used  to  keep 
going  sixty  lamps  in  corridors,  lavatories,  etc..  which  burn 
after  the  state  room  lights  have  been  turned  off  at  night.  As 
for  fuel,  the  Chicago  burns  lid  tons  of  coal  per  day.  that  is 
to  say  that,  with  1.0(10  tons  more  carrying  capacity  than  the 
Berlin,  she  burns  ten  tons  more  coal,  while  her  speed  in 
similar  circumstances  is  estimated  to  be  the  same  as  that  of 
the  Berlin.  The  cost  of  the  Chicago  has  been  S7o0,000, 
which  includes  all  that  sumptuous  decorative  finish  in  which 
every  new  ocean  passenger  steamer  endeavors  to  show- 
something  more  handsome  and  elegant  than  its  predeces- 
sors are  aide  to  display.  In  this  respect,  the  music  room  of 
the  Chicago  is  a   lovely  example  of   ornamental  work,  the 


i;y  LA XI)  AXD  SKA. 


whole  intricacy  of  which  leads  up,  from  panel  to  panel,  to 
an  exquisite  picture  in  the  middle  of  each  panel.  Six  of 
the  pictures  are  portraits,  respectively  representing  Wash- 
ington, Franklin.  Shakespeare.  Watt.  Hogarth  and  Scott, 
the  others  being  designs  of  cherubic  musicians,  playing  up- 
on the  wind,  string  and  sounding  metal  instruments  of  an- 
cient times,  amid  surroundings  of  birds.  Mowers  and  fruit 
of  fascinating  beauty.  It  may  readily  lie  understood  that 
tlie  Dresden  grand  piano  of  the  music  room  has  to  look  its 
handsomest  and  utter  its  sweetest  notes  to  be  in  keeping 
with  these  things.  To  allude  to  other  points  of  excellence 
in  the  internal  economy  of  the  Chicago  would  he  but  a 
repetition  of  the  description  given  of  the  Berlin,  except  to 
note  that  the  state  rooms  of  the  Chicago  are  a  foot  larger 
abeam  than  those  of  the  Berlin  aid  have  improved  accom- 
modations for  the  stowage  of  baggage. 

The  passengers  on  the  maiden  voyage  of  the  City  of  Chi- 
cago were  all  on  board  on  Tuesday  evening.  illSthi.  having 
been  taken  by  tender  from  the  Prince's  Pier.  Liverpool,  to 
the  ship,  which  lay  at  anchor  in  the  middle  of  the  river,  op- 
posite the  pier.  Among  the  ship's  company  were  to  be 
found  many  of  the  Berlin's  officials.  Commodore  Leitch  be- 
ing accompanied  by  his  first  and  third  officers  and  surgeon, 
and  Purser  Kavanagh  having  his  former  clerical  aid.  J'here 
were  also  on  hoard  Chairman  Birlev  and  Marine  Superin- 
tendent Alexander,  who  accompanied  the  ship  to  (Queens- 
town,  and  Mr.  Clibborn,  the  head  of  the  passenger  and  com- 
missary departments,  who  came  to  give  a  final  look  round  in 
the  way  of  business  and  extending  parting  courtesies  to  the 
passengers.  A  beautiful  day  had  closed  in  with  dense  fog 
when  the  pilot  took  the  Chicago  slowly  and  cautiously  out  of 
the  ii\er  Mersey.  The  tide  running  out.  it  was  midnight 
when  the  ship  crossed   the  bar  and  carefully   sounded   her 


BY  LAND  A XI)  SEA.  83- 


way  down  the  channel,  tu  the  lugubrious  music  of  the  fog 
horn.  Some  pauses  likewise  had  to  be  made  to  renew  some 
packing  in  the  machinery.  The  weather  also  was  so  dirty 
that  when  the  ship  arrived  off  Roche's  Point  after  next  mid- 
night it  was  thought  best  to  await  daylight  before  proceed- 
ing up  Queenstown  harbor.  Between  (!  a.  m  and  12  m.  on 
Thursday  the  cylinders  of  the  engine  were  examined  and  re- 
packed, and.  at  \±:HK  the  Chicago  received  the  mails  and 
left  for  New  York.  The  afternoon  and  evening  were  fine 
and  the  run  to  Fastnet  Rock  afforded  a  beautiful  view  of 
the  picturesque  coast  of  the  county  Cork,  dotted,  on  its 
highest  points,  by  the  quaint  old  round  towers  of  Ireland. 
Prom  Fastnet.  the  course  turned  away  and  soon  the  land  had 
faded  into  a  mere  indistinct  outline.  The  prettiest  day  for 
a  week  to  come  had  ended,  and  strong  westerly  winds  pro- 
ceeded to  make  things  interesting  thenceforth. 

The  breeze  increased  to  a  gale  on  Sunday,  and  a  heavy 
gale  followed  on  Tuesday  night.  This  was  the  sort  of 
weather  to  test  the  Chicago,  and  her  response  to  it  gratified 
all  onboard  of  ripe  experience  in  voyaging.  Capt.  Leitch 
and  Mr.  Kavanagh  had  each  crossed  the  Atlantic  over  -"inn 
times,  and  a  number  of  the  passengers  had  made  all  the  way 
from  five  or  ten  up  to  forty  trips  each.  The  verdict  of  these 
was  in  praise  of  the  easy  motion  of  the  vessel,  and  the  buoy- 
ancy with  which  she  rode  over  tin-  heaviest  seas:  quite  a 
change  from  the  boats  which  lie  down  in  the  water  and  are 
so  wet  in  had  weather  for  lack  of  elasticity  in  rising  fairly 
with  the  seas  they  encounter.  A  farther  tribute  to  the  com- 
fortable movement  of  the  Chicago  was  the  remarkably 
small  amount  of  seasickness  among  her  passengers.  Indeed, 
among  the  men,  the  worst  case  emerged  from  his  seclusion 
in  a  couple  days  and  felt  good  enough  to  make  his  way  to 
the  bulletin  board  at  the  top  of  the  companion's  interior  and 


M 


BY  LAXJ)  AM)  SKA 


write  thereon:  "Lost,  a  first-class  appetite,  of  no  use  to  any- 
one but  the  owner. "     Then  followed  an    adjuration    to    tin 

finder  to  hand  the  article  over  at  once,  as  it  was  wanted  im- 
mediately. The  voyage  was  further  rendered  cheerful  b\ 
the  daily  occurrence  of  sighting  ships.  One  of  these,  ;i 
freight  steamer  from  Philadelphia,  which  met  the  Chi- 
cago during  the  gale  of  Sunday,  was  an  exciting  spec- 
tacle, the  wind  being  dead  aft  of  her  and  causing  her 
to  kick  up  her  heels  and  plunge,  like  a  typical  war-horse. 
as  she  drove  furiously  before  it.  Thursday,  the  27th. 
was  made  especially  memorable  by  the  sight  of  a  whale, 
which  spouted  in  the  most  orthodox  fashion,  a  short 
distance  off  the  port  bow.  At  .">  o'clock  on  Friday  morning. 
:J50  miles  from  New  York,  a  pilot  was  taken  on  hoard.  Later 
in  the  day.  Mr.  Kavanagh  was  waited  on  by  a  committee  of 
three  intermediate  passengers,  one  of  whom,  with  a  neat 
little  speech,  presented  the  following  unanimously  signed 
paper: 

"We,  the  intermediate  passengers,  before  leaving,  desire  to 
express  our  satisfaction  with  our  steward's  department  and 
with  the  behavior  of  this  good  ship  on  her  maiden  voyage, 
and  we  wish  her  and  her  i  r  -w  a  long  and  honorable  career." 

This  was  succeeded  by  two  similarly  complimentary  docu- 
ments from  the  steerage,  one  of  which  was  in  Swedish  and 
wis  signed  by  the  sixty  Scandinavian  passengers,  the  other 
representing  the  whole  of  the  English-speaking  majority. 

These  papers  seemed  in  excellent  taste  as  a  cordial  endorse- 
ment of  the   new  ship   which  had   proved  herself  so  stanch 
and  were  practically  the  last  incidents  of  note  previous  to  her 
arrival  off  Sandv  Hook  on  Saturday. 


THE  C REG  AN  CURSE. 


THE  CREGAN  CURSE. 


Tt  was  eventide.  Ballakillin's  face  was  wet,  as  sturdily  as 
ever,  toward  the  east,  disdaining  to  look  over  its  powerful 
shoulders  to  see  that  the  sun  was  setting  behind  it.  Leave 
Ballakillin  alone  for  that!  It  to  said  that  she  once,  a  long, 
long  time  ago  —  indeed,  it  would  appear,  by  traditionary 
dates  almost  as  soon  as  the  world  began  —  allowed  her  high- 
est mountain,  Moddy-dhu,  to  glance  back  at  retiring 
Phcebus,  in  doing  which  that  unfortunate  mountain's  head 
and  neck  became  permanently  twisted  into  the  position  in 
which  they  now  stand,  gazing  always  westward. 

Ballakillin  was,  and  is.  the  name  of  a  beautiful  island, 
away  east,  among  the  British  Isles.  There  were  several 
towns  and  villages  on  the  island,  but  it  was  after  the  name 
of  Ballakillin  that  the  principal  of  these  was  named,  in  honor 
of  the  island  itself.  So  the  one  was  usually  called  "the 
Island,"  and  the  other,  almost  invariably,  "Ballakillin  "  The 
''town." after  all.  was  but  a  scattered  and  irregular  series  of 
houses  ami  huts.  A  noble  ruined  castle  and  a  lighthouse, 
which  severally  jutted  forth  into  the  sea,  with  bold  promi- 
nence, on  the  tops  of  rocky  promontories  of  appalling  terror 


M  THE  ('REG AX  CVRSE. 


to  the  storm-struck  mariner,  and  enclosed  Ballakillin  Bay. 
formed  the  most  striking  marks  in  a  landscape  which  told  in 
early  dawn,  daylight,  dusk  —aye.  and  on  the  darkest  night-  - 
with  resounding  waves, where  the  Head  of  Ballakillin  and  the 

Murchan  Point  were.  At  ebb  and  How  of  tide,  both  these 
points  were  especially  shunned  by  the  wary:  but,  at  low- 
water,  pleasure-boats  and  fishing  craft  would  venture  around 
either,  and  men  would  discourse  fearlessly  as  they  pointed 
to  the  awful  cavernous  clefts  and  treacherous  needle-  rocks 
of  the  one  adjoining  Bay.  or  the  towering  fiat -faced  sea- 
board of  the  other — neither  accessible  as  landing-places  to 
anything  but  birds. 

As  was  said  before,  it  was  eventide.  There  had  been  a 
sharp  storm  on  the  previous  night,  and  now  there  was  a 
heavy  ground-swell  on  the  sea.  The  Liverpool  and  Glasgow 
steam  packet  had  at  noon  labored  gallantly  into  the  danger- 
ous harbor  of  Ballakillin.  with  the  "Eliza  Jane"  of  Fleetwood 
— said  "Eliza  Jane"  being  without  either  sails  or  masts,  save 
a  stump  of  mainmast,  obliquely  across  which  was  lashed  a 
spar  from  whose  short  arm  depended  a  t'nion  Jack,  upside 
down,  as  a  signal  of  distress.  The  "Eliza  Jane"  was  in  sad 
plight,  having  ''caught  it  in  the  Channel."  Nevertheless 
young  George  Clucas  had  gone  out  in  his  and  his  father's 
fishing-boat  to  ply  his  means  of  livelihood.  His  father,  old 
Orry  Clucas,  had  endeavored  to  dissuade  him  from  goingout 
alone,  that  day. 

"Alone,  dad!"  exclaimed  George,  cheerily.  "Why.  you 
know  the  boy  is  sick,  and  besides,  he's  not  much  use.  any- 
how. And  the  boat's  yours  and  mine:  so  that  I'll  have  your 
share  along  with  me  if  I  can't  have  you andyour  rheuma- 
tism/' added  he.  laying  his  hands  with  firm  grip  on  his  fath- 
er's shoulders,  and  looking  into  the  old  eyes  with  merry  ser- 
iousness.     "And  what's  more,  von  know.  I'm  twentv-one  to- 


THE  CREGAN  CURSE.  87 

day;  aid.  I'll  tell  you,  dad,  it's  not  to  keep  the  pot  boiling, 
only,  that  I  want  to  work  in  all  weathers,  but — I  want  to 
work. " 

The  father  knew  for  whom  his  son  was  fretting,  and  was 
afraid  too  that  it  was  the  old  tale  that  happens — in  its  agony, 
God  grant — but  once  in  a  lifetime.  "George,"  said  he,  as 
he  looked  fondly  at  his  son's  curly  fair  hair  and  clustering 
auburn  beard,  and  meeting  his  blue  eyes.  "George,  look 
away  over  in  the  nor'east!  We've  not  really  felt  the  storm 
yet!" 

"See,  dad.  see!  The  tide's  turned,  and  I  must  go!"  was 
all  the  response.  So  George  leaped  into  the  boat,  cast 
loose,  and  in  a  minute,  with  lugsail  and  foresail  filled,  was 
quietly  passing  down  the  harbor  bar  between  "the  two 
points."  Arrived  there,  instead  of  taking  his  usual  short 
tacks,  his  father  saw,  with  practiced  eye,  that  the  boy  had 
seen  the  coming  squall,  for  the  boat  headed  due  south  and 
soon  passed  from  view. 

"The  lad's  not  after  much  fish,  to-day,  Tin  thinking," 
said  the  old  man  sadly.  "It's  the  Cregan  Curse  he  has  up- 
on him — that  one  of  each  blood  shall  love  and  break  their 
hearts  once  in  every  fifty  years.  He  has  it  on  him,  and  he's 
fighting  with  it.     Our  only  boy!" 

The  word  "our"  seemed  to  remind  him  of  his  wife,  Mar- 
garet, and  he  turned  toward  the  cottage  on  the  rock  with  the 
sea-weed  garden  deep  below,  where  they  lived;  and,  as  his 
rheumatic  limbs  ascended  to  his  threshold,  he  sighed  deep- 
ly. It  was  then  but  just  past  noon — though  I  said  when  I 
began,  "it  was  eventide";  and  he  reached  his  home,  and  sat 
down  upon  the  doorstep,  and  looked  anxiously  and  eagerly 
at  the  clouds  and  the  general  aspect  of  the  weather,  and  sat 
there,  so  doing,  until  it  was  eventide.  As  he  looked  for  the 
boy's  boat  with  a  telescope,  which  hung  within  easy  reach  in 


SS  TTTK  GREGAN  CURSE. 


the  cottage,  and  saw  George  appear  and  reappear,  until  be 
was  scarcely  recognizable  in  the  offing,  a  heavy  sigh  of 
pleasure  would  now  and  then  escape  from  his  half-parted 
lips:  each  deft  tack  that  the  small  lugger  made  among  the 
"sea  dogs"  was  noticed  admiringly  by  old  Orry. 

The  returning  boat  was  just  o ff  the  "Head."  when  Mar- 
garet came  to  the  door.      "Orry,    where's  George?"  said  she. 

"Oh,  he's  out,  Maggie!     Out  all  right!"  replied  he,  gently. 

The  old  lady  was  near-sighted,  and  slightly  deaf,  and  so 
only  heard  the  word  "out,"  for  Orry's  voice  was  a  little 
tremulous. 

"Is  he  anchored  on  the  bar?" 

"No.     He's  after  mackerel  to-day." 

"Orry.  your  tone  sounds  to  me  like  a  g^od  catch.  Is  he 
going  to  do  well,  to-day?  Did  you  prepare  the  boat  well  for 
him  when  he  left?  For,"  said  she.  in  a  somewhat  apprehen- 
sive tone,  'it  seems  to  me  the  wind  is  rising,  and."  as  she 
looked  up  at  the  clock,  "the  flow  is  on.  and  I  would  like  to  see 
the  boy  home.  I  would  like  to  see  the  hoy  home.  He  can't 
surely  be  gone  to  leeward,  to  Mylchriest's  bay!  Well!"  ex- 
claimed the  old  lady,  arranging  the  reflector  behind  a  bright 
particolored  light  which  she  placed  in  the  window,  'it'  he 
is,  I  am  sorry  for  the  boy  to-night.    There's  our  lighthouse.'' 

Then  Orry  came  in  out  id'  the  growing  darkness;  and 
prodigiously  slapped  his  wife  Margaret  on  the  back-,  thereby 
causing  her  a  violent  tit  of  coughing.  "Maggie,"  said  he. 
"do  you  put  some  supper  on  the  table,  while  I  go  down  tow  n 
to  get  some  tobacco." 

"Tobacco!  Why  you've  got  plenty!  the  box  is  half  full!"  ex- 
claimed his  wife,  but  he  appeared  mU  to  have  heard  her. 
for  he  was  gone,  and  was  proceeding  to  the  business  portion 
of  the  town  with  more  celerity  than  his  rheumatic  limbs  had 
promised.     Arrived   there,    he  did  purchase  some   smoking 


THE  CREGAN  CURSE.  89 

tobacco.  Then,  turning  his  steps  in  another  direction,  hut 
toward  Ballakillin  Bay.  a  walk  of  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile 
brought  him  to  the  house  of  Richard  Cregan,  a  well-to-do 
fisherman,  and  owner  of  two  boats,  a  lugger  and  a  smack, 
which  he  and  his  sons  worked  between  them. 

The  forefathers  of  the  ('Incases  and  the  Cregans  had  been 
born  and  lived  and  married  and  begot  children  in  Ballakil- 
lin for  a  traditionally  long  period:  but  neither  family  had  at- 
tained any  special  degree  of  afrluenct — unless  the  wealth  of 
indomitable  pride  possessed  by  the  Cregans  may  in  some  sort 
In-  considered  as  such.  The  Clncases  were  unswerving 
in  their  ideas  of  right,  but  the  insolence  of  passion 
never  appeared  in  their  feudal  dislike  of  the  Cregans.  Long, 
long  ago,  a  Cregan  and  a  Clucas  had  sought  the  same  girl  to 
wife,  ami  the  one  who  had  won  her  was  slain  by  the  other: 
who,  some  time  afterward,  married  this  girl,  and,  when  both 
were  old.  and  he  on  his  death-bed,  confessed  to  his  wife 
that  the  lover  of  her  youth  did  not  accidentally  fall  from  the 
bluffs  of  Ballakillin  Head  down  on  the  needle -rocks  of  Myl- 
chriest's  Bay.  while  getting  eggs  from  the  seabirds'  nesls, 
as  had  been  supposed,  but  was  pushed  down  by  him,  treach- 
erously: whereupon  his  aged  listener  had  cursed  him.  with 
such  a  fearful  and  prophetic  curse,  that,  while  she  yet  spake, 
he  had  "fled  from  her,  in  terrible  fear  and  haste,  into  the 
presence  of  his  Maker."  Whatever  might  be  the  intrinsic 
value  or  weight  of  this  prophetic  curse  which  ttris  aged  fe- 
male ancestor  of  the  Cregans  had  uttered,  one  thing  is  cer- 
tain; the  two  families  had  never  intermarried — though,  per- 
haps from  their  propinquity,  more  than  one  couple  of  the 
younger  members  of  the  families  had  been  discovered  to 
have  come  to  love  one  another,  and  (on  the  Cregan  side) 
been  well  cursed  for  their  folly  and  weakness,  and  at  once 
forbidden  to  think  anv  more  of  each  other. 


!)0  THE  CREGAN  CURSE. 


Old  Orry  rapped  at  the  door  with  the  head  of  his  stick,  and 
presently  the  door  was  opened  by  a  tall,  haughty -looking 
young  woman,  who  was  remarkable  for  an  abundance  of 
massive  tresses  of  dark  brown  hair,  and  large  slumbrous 
•■yes  which  were  a  shade  darker.  Seeing  three  men  seated 
on  the  opposite  side  of  the  room,  engaged  in  mending  a  net. 
with  a  civil  but  cold  greeting  to  Ellen  Cregan,  Orry  pushed 
past  her.  and  at  once  began  to  state  his  errand.  Strangely 
and  quaint  enough  his  words  must  have  sounded  in  the  ears 
of  his  listeners,  as  he  leaned  on  his  stick  and  confronted  them. 

"By  this  time  George  will  be  on  the  rocks  in  Mylchriest's 
Bay."  he  said. 

With  a  hasty  oath,  the  youngest  Cregan  sprang  to  his  feet, 
and  the  other  two  looked  up  suddenly,  with  some  excitement 
visible  on  their  countenances;  but  Ellen  stood  perfectly 
still,  and  nothing  but  the  glow  which  was  fast  lighting  np 
her  eyes  betrayed  that  she  had  heard  the  words  of  their  un- 
wonted visitor. 

"Tell  us  all  about  it!"  said  the  young  man  fiercely,  and  the 
other  two  echoed  his  words. 

Then  Orry  told  them  how  George  had  been  out  in  all  the 
squalls  that  afternoon:  how  he  had  watched  him  all  the 
while  with  his  telescope,  whenever  he  was  in  sight;  that  he 
had  last  seen  him  as  he  was  trying  to  make  Ballakillin  Bay, 
off  the  "Head":  that  finding  he  could  not  make  the  Bay. 
(4-eorge  was  going  about  again  on  the  starboard  tack,  to 
stand  off,  when  a  squall  had  struck  him  and  wrapped  his  lug- 
sail  round  the  mast,  and  the  sea  had  struck  him  on  the  beam 
just  as  he  disappeared  round  the  "Head"  into  Mylchriest's 
Bay,  where,  the  old  man  added,  as  if  with  some  faint  hope, 
he  would  be  sheltered  from  the  wind. 

The  Cregans,  who  by  this  time  were  preparing  swiftly  to 
go  and  render  what  assistance  they  could,   had,  one  and  all. 


THE  C  REG  AN  CURSE.  91 

but  one  question  to  ask:  "What  hart  possessed  George  to  go 
out  iu  the  lugger  alone,  and  especially  when  he  nmst  have 
seen  the  threatening  weather?"  But  old  Orrv  only  shook 
his  head  sadly,  until,  as  they  set  forth  on  their  mission,  he 
clutched  John  (the  youngest)  by  the  arm.  and  with  a  back- 
ward glance  at  Ellen,  who  stood  in  the  doorway  looking  after 
them,  he  whispered  in  the  young  man's  ear,  "It  is  the  Curse 
that's  on  him!" 

John  Cregan  Hashed  a  sudden  piercing  glance  at  the  old 
man.  but  Orrv  did  not  notice  it;  he  was  too  much  occupied 
in  picking  his  way.  as  he  hobbled  painfully  along  in  the 
track  of  Richard  Cregan,  and  William,  the  elder  son. 

"Is  that  why  George  didn't  take  the  boy?"  asked  John. 

"No.     The  boy  is  sick  at  home,  and  unable  to  work." 

The  two  elder  Cregans  strode  on  ahead,  and.  notwith- 
standing a  considerable  amount  of  rope  which  they  carried 
between  them,  in  addition  to  a  stout  iron  spike — which  rope 
and  spike  were  used  in  "bird's  nesting"— were  fast  leaving 
their  companions  behind,  when,  just  as  they  neared  Clucas' 
cottage,  they  paused  and  waited  for  John  and  Orrv  to  catch 
up  with  them,  and  Richard  Cregan  abruptly  asked  the  latter 
if  Margaret  knew  of  George's  danger. 

"No!"  exclaimed  the  old  man.  "That's  what  I  wanted  to 
speak  about,  only  I  forgot  it  in  thinking  of  the  boy.  Twen- 
ty-one to-day!  No.  She  thinks  he's  stood  out  in  the  Chan- 
nel till  the  wind  drops,  or  at  least  is  all  right  somewhere. 
She  thinks  I'm  gone  into  the  town  for  some  tobacco,  and 
was  getting  supper  ready  when  I  came  out." 

"Just  as  well!"  said  the  elder  Cregan.  And  then  he  add- 
ed, in  a  softer  tone  of  voice,  "You  must  go  in  and  stay  with 
her.  Clucas;  you  are  too  lame  to  go  along  with  us." 

"I'm  afraid  I  am."  replied  the  old  man.  "I'll  do  as  you 
say;  only  tell  me  what  you  are  going  to  do." 


r)0 


THE  CREGAX  Cl'IlSE. 


"Of  course  he's  on  the  rocks,  dead  or  alive. "  said  Richard, 
in  his  harsh,  peremptory  accents.  Orry  winced  at  the  word 
"dead."  ''And  being  there,  he  must  he  got  off.  if  we  can 
rind  him."  Orry  winced  again  "Xow  there's  two  good 
points,  one  in  his  favor,  and  one  m  ours  as  well:  The  tide 
couldn't  have  been  on  the  flow  over  an  hour  when  you  miss. 
ed  him  round  the  Head.  It  wouldn't  have  covered  the  flat 
rocks,  thouc/lt  the  wind  was  blowing  off  the  water.  And—  it 
wasn't  quite  dark.  Then,  the  other  point  is  Unit."  He 
pointed  to  the  horizon,  where,  far  away  over  the  harbor  bar, 
far  away  over  many  miles  of  angry  water,  the  moon's  disk 
was  seen,  rising  (dear  and  bright — its  light  seeming  to  shed 
itself  in  a  glimmering  pathway  over  the  foam -topped  waves 
and  set  forth,  in  bold  relief,  on  the  right  hand  the  frowning 
Head  of  Ballakillin.  and  on  the  left  the  sharp  Point  of  Mur- 
chan,  on  whose  summit  the  stunted  fir  trees  were  nodding 
and  jostling  one  another  in  the  dying  northeast  breeze.  Orry 
saw  what  Cregan  meant,  without  further  words. 

"(lo  in  and  get  us  George's  birding  line  and  spike,  Orry. 
We've  no  time  to  lose!"  said  Will  Cregan. 

Orry  went  to  a  small  outhouse  where  George  kept  alibis 
fishing  tackle,  tools,  and  such  things,  ami  returned  with  a 
rope  and  spike  similar  to  that  of  the  Oregans.  "God  speed 
you,  boys!"  he  said,  as  he  stood  for  a  few  moments  watching 
them  go  at  a  kind  of  sling-trot  down  the  slope  of  the  hollow 
which  intervened  between  him  ami  the  foot  of  Ballakillin 
Head.  "God  speed  you!"  Two  hie  tears  started  from  his 
eyes  and  ran  down  his  weather-beaten  face,  so  he  tinned 
anil  hobbled  into  the  cottage,  where  his  wife  sat  waiting  his 
return. 

"Maggie,"  exclaimed  he.  ostentatiously  dropping  the  paper 
of  tobacco  on  the  table:  "you  don't  know  half  the  news! 
Who  do  von  think  is  going  to  be  married:1"     Then  he  men- 


THE  CREGAX  CURSE.  93 

tioned  the  names  of  a  young  couple  of  the  "town,"  who 
were  contemplating  matrimony. 

"What  a  long  time  you've  been!  Why.  I  knew  that  a  week 
ago.     Where  i.H  George?     Where  cun  he  he?" 

"Oh.  George?"  sail  Orry,  in  a  slow,  matter-of-fact  man- 
ner, which  seemed  to  imply  that  any  apprehensions  as  to 
his  son's  safety  were  far  from  his  mind. 

"Yes,  George!"  replied  she  a  little  sharply. 

"Why.  of  course  he's  out  in  the  Channel.  He'd  have  to 
wait  until  the  moon  rose  before  he'd  try  to  come  in.  with 
such  a  sea  on.  When  I  saw  him  last,  just  before  dark,  he 
couldn't  make  tin;  buoys  for  the  wind,  so  he  steered  clear  of 
the  Head,  and  went  out  to  sea  tilt  the  moon  ro.se.  George 
is  too  good  a  seaman  to  risk  his  boat." 

Margaret  took  her  husband  at  his  word,  and.  having  risen 
from  her  seat  to  trim  the  lamp  in  the  window,  so  that  her 
boy  might  see  the  bright  signal-light  when  he  came  up  the 
little  bay,  she  sat  down  to  supper  with  her  husband,  whereat 
Orry  ate  hugely,  and  talked  incesssantly — afterward  trolling 
a  lively  stave  of  a  sea-ditty,  in  which  the  singer  was  set  forth 
as  having  a  wife  in  all  the  principal  ports  frequented  by  the 
merchant  navy,  and  rejoicing  in  his  polygamy.  He  then 
lighted  his  pipe  and  puffed  forth  volumes  of  smoke  with 
much  apparent  satisfaction;  and  Margaret,  after  washing  and 
putting  away  the  supper  things,  laid  down  contentedly  on  a 
sort  of  pallet  near  the  fireplace,  and,  while  "waiting  for 
George,"  slept. 


Scarcely  were  the  four  men  out  of  Ellen  Cretan's  siyht 
when  the  girl  Hung  the  door  shut  with  a  sudden  burst  of 
passion  and  paced  the  room  like  a  caged  tigress  for  several 
minutes,  with  her  hands  tightlv  clenched,  one  in  the  other. 


THE  CRKGAX  CFRSE. 


Then    she    threw  herself  prone  on  the   floor,  and  lay  there 
moaning,  with  her  faee  buried  in  her  hands. 


Surely  the  devil  was  in  George  Clueas  that  eventide,  when 
he  was  so  eareless  in  going  about  on  that  starboard  hick — so 
heedless  in  endeavoring,  single-handed,  to  make  the  narrow 
passage  between  the  buoys  in  that  heavy  sea  and  those  dan- 
gerous, frequent  gusts  of  wind.  Orry  had  been  wrong:  there 
had  only  been  a  hitch  in  getting  the  lugsail  'round.  Still  it 
was  almost  a  miracle  that  the  boat  was  not  swamped:  she 
was  driven  upon  her  side,  and  all  George  could  do  was  to 
steer  her  (dear  of  the  "Head."  and  head  for  the  middle  of 
Mylehriest's  Bay  while  she  still  answered  her  helm,  which 
she  would  not  do  long,  as  the  towering  promontory  of  the 
"Head"  now  shut  off  the  wind,  and  both  sails  were  fluttering 
and  flapping,  empty,  as  if  trying  to  shake  out  their  reefs, 
while  the  boat  drifted  toward  the  fatal  rocks  on  the  heaving, 
angry,  sulky  tide.  As  the  little  lugger  sped  into  the  Bay. 
and  slowly  "righted"  herself,  half  full  of  water,  and  her  oc- 
cupant, having  made  the  helm  fast,  was  stepping  forward  to 
clew  up  the  lugsail,  looking  upward  he  saw  the  light  appear 
in  the  lighthouse,  in  the  darkening  twilight,  and  the  thought 
struck  him  that  his  mishap  had  been  seen,  and  that  assist 
auce  might  yet  come  to  him  in  some  shape.  So  thinking,  he 
altered  his  ludm.  and  with  half  frantic  energy  baled  out  the 
water.  Then  taking  an  oar  in  his  hands,  he  headed  the 
boat  as  well  as  he  could  for  a  certain  part  of  the  shore.  "I'll 
see  if  I  can  make  the  Cregan  rock.  I  can  climb  up  out  of 
reach  of  high  water  there."  said  he.  More  by  good  luck  than 
seaman-hiii.  he  was  able  to  steer  his  boat  toward  the  spot  he 
wished  to  reach,  and  before  many  minutes  had  passed  he 
was  among  the  breakers   on  the   Mat  rocks,   just  below  the 


THE  C REG  AN  CURSE. 


needles,  and,  as  the  little  lugger  heeled  over  and  filled  when 
she  struck,  he  had  drawn  a  deep  breath,  clenched  his  teeth 
firmly,  and.  jumping  clear  of  the  boat,  was  fighting  in  the 
water,  which,  lifting  him  like  a  fragile  toy,  hurled  him.  bruis- 
ed and  bleeding,  close  to  the  foot  of  the  needles;  and  then 
retreated,  roaring,  to  gain  strength  for  a  fresh  effort.  Scarce- 
ly knowing  what  he  did  or  how  he  did  it.  he  gained  his  feet. 
and  dashing  forward  over  the  slippery,  sea-weed-covered 
rocks,  he  was  conscious  that  he  had  gained  the  largest  and 
most  prominent  of  the  needle-rocks— the  only  one  which 
had  ever  afforded  a  means  of  access  to  the  bluffs  from  Myl- 
chriest*s  Bay.  without  the  aid  of  a  birding-line.  He  knew 
that  it  was  the  fatal  Cregan  rock  on  which  the  Clucas  of  old 
Lad  met  his  death  at  the  hands  of  a  Cregan.  He  knew  that 
he  was  clinging  to  a  splinter  at  the  base  of  the  rock,  with  the 
energy  and  grip  of  desperation.  He  was  conscious  that  one 
of  his  arms  was  quite  useless,  and  that,  feeling  himself 
growing  faint  and  sick,  he  made  a  great  effort  and  managed 
to  scramble  a  part  of  the  way  up  the  precipitous  path,  but 
not  to  high-water  mark  by  some  distance.  He  felt  his  limbs 
refuse  to  support  him.  and.  instinctively  reaching  a  jagged 
"needle  "  he  cluug  to  it  with  his  sound  arm.  and.  resting 
against  it.  sank  down  h  ilf  fainting.  Then  a  sort  of  dreami- 
ness came  over  him.  He  felt  no  desire  to  move,  but,  heed- 
less of  the  heavy  wash  of  the  swiftly  rising  tide  and  the  sul- 
lenly tierce  breakers  which  threw  up  clouds  of  foamy  spray 
just  below  him.  he  inertly  watched  the  silvery  pathway  of 
the  ravs  of  the  gradually  rising  moon.  By  the  time  the  glit- 
terino  disk  was  well  above  the  horizon,  he  began  to  fancy 
that  he  could  distinguish,  above  the  echoing  roar  of  the 
breakers,  the  high  pitched  voices  of  sailors  calling  to  one 
another:  and  he  found  him>elf  wondering  who  they  could  be, 
and  what  they  were  doing  there  that  night,  and    no  boat  in 


%  THE  CREGAX  CURSE. 

sight.     An  unusually  ambitious  wave  just  then    outstripped 

its  fellows,  and  drenched  him  with  spray.  A  piece  of  rock, 
about  as  large  as  he  could  have  clasped  his  arms  around. 
came  hounding  down  the  pathway  from  above,  and  narrowly 
missed  striking  his  head:  and  he  was  pondering  how  it  had 
been  set  going,  when,  with  swift,  cat-like,  cautious  step,  the 
figure  of  a  man  appeared  at  his  side,  and  instantly  sent  forth 
an  eldrich  screech,  which  was  faintly  answered  from  above. 
Raising  his  eyes,  the  moonlight  showed  him  the  form  and 
features  of  John  Cregan. 

Helpless  as  George  was.  the  task  of  getting  him  to  the 
summit  of  the  rocky  bluffs  was  a  slow  and  tedious  operation; 
but  the  three  Cregans  accomplished  it.  and  when,  shortly  af- 
terward, the  big  waves,  driven  by  the  tide  and  the  heavy 
swell,  broke  over  the  Cregan  rock,  it  was  to  find  that  their 
prey  had  escaped  from  their  grasp. 

Leaving  the  tackle,  which  had  done  such  good  service,  be  - 
hind  them  for  awhile,  they  took  their  rescued  waif  home  by 
slow  degrees;  and  one  of  them  went  to  fetch  the  surgeon, 
while  the  other  two  returned  to  the  bluffs   for  the  lines  and 

spikes. 

Solemnly,  and  most  silently.  Richard  Cregan  and  his 
elder  son  delivered  their  charge  into  the  quivering  arms  of 
his  father,  and.  having  briefly  answered  Orrv's  few  hasty 
questions,  laying  stress  on  the  fact  that  it  was  owing  to  John 
having  insisted  on  their  going  first  to  the  place  they  did  that 
George  had  beeu  saved,  they  returned  to  the  bluffs,  as  was 
said  above,  and  brought  home  the  lines  and  spikes. 

Margaret's  trouble  when  they  had  got  George  tolled  in  the 
next  room  was  painful  to  witness.  She  had  been  quiet 
enough  until  then.  An  intense,  reproachful  gaze  she  fixed 
on  her  husband's  tell-tale,  guilty  face,  when  she  accused 
him  ami  found  that   he    had    deceived  her— had  lied  to   her 


THE  ('REGAN  CURSE.  97 

about  George.  ''If  I  had  known,  I  might  have  been  saying 
my  prayers  for  him;  and  you  did  know,  and  you  never  pray- 
ed at  all!  No!  you  enjoyed  your  supper  more  than  ever,  and 
sang,  and  smoked,  and  laughed." 

"I  was  praying  all  the  time,  Maggie."  said  the  old  man 
humbly.  But,  somewhat  after  the  manner  of  her  of  old, 
Margaret  "refused  to  be  comforted. "  "And  you  saw  me  put 
the  signal-light  in  the  window,  and  knew  he  wasn't  to  see  it, 
ami  said  he  was  out  in  the  Channel  and  safe!"  she  continu- 
ed: and  Orry  bore  all  she  said,  and  felt  more  guilty  than  ever, 
in  that  his  love  for  her  had  led  him  to  deceive  his  wife. 

The  surgeon  found  George  badly  bruised,  and  with  his 
right  arm  broken  above  the  elbow.  Fever  set  in  and  for 
days  he  was  delirious,  and  Richard  Cregan  more  than  once 
stood  by  his  bed-side,  with  John,  and  heard  the  never-ended 
words  of  the  Curse  repeated  over  and  over  again  by  the  lips 
of  the  unconscious  sufferer,  mingled  and  coupled  with  his 
daughter's  name;  and  this  set  liim  to  thinking,  and  he  and 
John  talked  it  over,  when  they  were  out  in  their  lugger,  fish- 
ing. 

And  one  day,  when  George  was  convalescent.  Richard 
Cregan  came,  and  called  Orry  on  one  side,  and,  to  his 
amazement,  began  to  talk  about  the  Curse.  It  seemed  to 
him  and  John,  he  said,  that  a  Cregan  had  saved  the  life  of 
a  Clucas;  and  that  he  and  John  thought  that  this  put  an  end 
to  the  power  of  the  Curse.  "John  "  he  said,  "held  that  the 
Curse  bad  never  hurt  any  one  but  the  dying  murderer;  that 
it  was  bad  feeling  between  the  families  that  had  broken 
what  hearts  had  been  broken.  I  can  see  it  at  home.''  con- 
tinued Richard's  harsh  voice,  warming;  "my  Ellen  is  fretting 
herself  sick  since  George  was  hurt,  d'he  old  tale  is  coming 
true  with  her  and  George!  Rut  John  says  truest,  it  is  our 
fault  for  keeping  up  bad   blood,  and  laying  the  blame  on  the 


THE  (REG AS  CURSE. 


wieked  words  of  a  passionate  old  woman,  mad  with  nige. 
And  John,  and  me.— and  Will."  he  added  in  a  lower  tone, 
for  Will  had  but  very  reluctantly  given  his  eonsent.  "say 
that  we  would  like  you  to  tell  George  that,  if  he  want-  Ellen 
and  sin-  is  willing  to  take  him,  we  have  nothing  against  it: 
and  if  you  want  any  help  about  your  new  boat  — " 


And  this  was  the  last  of  the  Cregan  Curs 


VERSES.  f.) 


JHEIK  SAILOR  LAD. 

Aw'm  wearyin'  o'  my  watch, 
Aw'm  wearyin'  o'  my  watch: 

'1'lr  livelong  neight  aw  soigh, 
My  sleep  aw  conno"  cotch! 

Fur  aw'm  thinkin'  on  eaur  lad, 

Eaur  lad,  lass,  thoine  an'  moine: 
An'  tliat  is  why,  at  neight, 
Aw  loie  awake  an'  poine. 

'Eaw  well  aw  moind  'is  words, 

To  thee,  lass,  aye  an'  me  : 

"Think  o'  me.  dad  air  moother, 

Woile  aw"ru  away  at  sea!" 

Weer  is  eaur  Willy's  face? 

Weer  is  eaur  lad's  pale  cheek? 
Oh!  aw'm  "ait  ateard  to  think. 

Aw'm  'alf  ateard  to  speak! 

My  cheeks  wur  red  that  mornin" 
They're  w'oite.  aw  know,  toneight: 

Fur  eaur  on'v  lad  is  lost, 

An'  aw'm  lost  wi'eaut  'is  seight. 

Hut  we  are  not  sure  "e's  lost, 
No,  no!  not  sure  'e's  dreawned! 

'£  may  coom  to  us  yet, 
\Yi"  fa-ace  all  bronzed  an'  breawned  ! 

Still  my  'eart  is  varry  chill 

An'  aw  loie  awake  an'  watch. 
Fur  'e  may  coom  in  th"  neight, — 
Is  th'  dooer  on  th'  latch? 


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